UC-NRLF 


am 


MANUAL    OF 
NATURAL    THEOLOGY 


PROFESSOR  GEORGE   P.   FISHER'S  WORKS. 


"Topics  of  profound  interest  to  the  studious  inquirer  after  truth  ar« 
discussed  by  the  author  with  his  characteristic  breadth  of  view,  catholicity 
of  judgment,  affluence  of  learning,  felicity  of  illustration,  and  force  of 
reasoning.  .  .  .  His  singular  candor  disarms  the  prepossessions  of  his 
opponents.  ...  In  these  days  of  pretentious,  shallow,  and  garrulous 
scholarship,  his  learning  is  as  noticeable  for  its  solidity  as  for  its  compass." 

— X.  Y.  TRIBUNE. 


History  of  the   Christian   Church.     8vo,  with    Maps,       ....  $3.50 

Supernatural  Origin  of  Christianity.     New   Edition,  Crown  8vo,            -  2.50 

The  Reformation.     New  Edition,  Crown  8vo,       .....  2.50 

The  Beginnings  of  Christianity.     New  Edition,  Crown  tfvo,         -         -  2.50 

Grounds  of  Theistic  and  Christian  Belief.     Crown  8vo,      ...  2.50 

Discussions  in  History  and   Theology.     8vo,         .....  3,00 

Faith  and   Rationalism.      New   Edition,   12mo,      .....  .75 

Tde   Christian   Religion.      New  Edition,  16mo.               ....  .50 

Manual  of  Christian   Evidences.      16mo,      ......  .75 

The   Nature  and   Method   of  Revelation.      12mo,          -         ...  1.25 

Manual   of    Natural  Theology.      16mo,          -                     -          ...  .75 


MANUAL    OF 
NATURAL    THEOLOGY 


BY 


GEORGE   PARK   FISHER,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

TITUS  STREET   PROFESSOR    OF   ECCLESIASTICAL    HISTORY    IN    YALE    UNIVERSITY 


.  .  > 

.     .'.,,:,-    - 

' 


• 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS 

1893 


COPYRIGHT,  1893,  BY 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


TROW    DIRECTORY 

PRINTING  AND   BOOKBINDING  COMPANY 
NEW    YORK 


PEEFAOE 

WHEN  I  wrote  the  little  volume  entitled  "  Man- 
ual of  Christian  Evidences,"  I  intended,  in  case  it 
should  prove  to  be  acceptable  and  useful,  to  pre- 
pare a  preliminary  volume  of  a  like  character  and 
compass  on  Natural  Theology.  The  present  book 
has  been  written  to  carry  out  that  purpose.  It 
is  designed,  like  its  predecessor,  for  readers  and 
pupils  who  have  not  time  for  the  study  of  more 
extended  treatises.*  It  is  unavoidable  that  the 
subject  of  Natural  Theology  should  call  for  a 
somewhat  more  severe  exercise  of  attention  and 
reflection  on  their  part  than  was  necessary  in  con- 
nection with  the  former  book.  But  I  have  tried 
to  make  the  discussion  as  plain  as  is  consistent 
with  thoroughness. 

The  necessities  of  man  which  Natural  Religion 

*  A  more  full  and  elaborate  discussion  I  have  presented  in 
"  The  Grounds  of  Theistic  and  Christian  Belief"  (Charles  Scrib- 
ner's  Sons,  1883). 

371504 


vi  PREFACE 

fails  to  meet,  and  which  constitute  the  ground  of 
the  need  of  Revelation,  are  pointed  out  in  the 
"  Manual  of  Christian  Evidences,"  Chapter  III. 

Modern  views  of  Evolution  of  necessity  modify 
the  method  of  dealing  with  the  evidences  of  The- 
ism. But  the  new  scientific  doctrine,  so  far  as  it 
can  be  said  to  have  established  itself  in  the  creed 
of  Naturalists  of  highest  repute,  has  the  effect,  I 
am  persuaded,  to  fortify  rather  than  to  weaken 
the  argument  of  design. 

G.  P.  F. 

NEW  HAVEN,  January  12,  1893. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

THE  NATURE  AND  ORIGIN  OF  RELIGION,         .        .        .  1 

Meaning  of  the  Term  "  Religion,"         ....  1 

Origin  of  Religion  Distinct  from  its  Proofs,  ...  2 

Erroneous  Theories  as  to  the  Origin  of  Religion,  .          .  3 

No  Distinct  Faith-faculty,     ......  5 

The  Radical  Sources  of  Religion,          ....  7 

Self-revelation  of  God,          ...         .         .         .9 

Office  of  the  Arguments  for  the  Being  of  God,      .  9 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  COSMOLOGICAL  ARGUMENT  FOR  THE  BEING  OF  GOD,     10 

The  Principle  of  Causation,          .....     10 

Cause  more  than  mere  Antecedence,    .         .         .         .11 

An  Eternal  Something,          ......     12 

Theory  of  an  Infinite  Series,          .....     12 

Cause  Implies  "  First  Cause," 14 

The  First  Cause  a  Free  Cause, ,14 

The  Source  of  Natural  Phenomena  in  Will,  .         .     16 

Truth  in  Polytheistic  Religions,    .         .         .         .         .17 
The  Unity  of  God,         .         .         ...         .         .         .17 


viii  CONTEXTS 


CHAPTER  III.  PAGE 

THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN,  .  .  .  .  .19 

Meaning  of  Analogy,  .  .  .  .  .  .  .19 

It  is  an  Inductive  Argument, 20 

Significance  of  "  Final  Causes,"    .         .         .         .         .21 

Chief  and  Subordinate  Ends,         .....     21 

"  Works  of  Nature  "  and  "  Works  of  Man,"          .         .     22 
Is  Adaptation  an  a  priori  Principle  ?     .         .         .         .28 

Rationality  of  Nature,  .......     24 

Adaptations  not  mere  "  Conditions  of  Existence,"  .  25 
Design  in  the  Structure  of  the  Eye,  .  .  .  .29 

Alleged  Defects  in  the  Eye, 32 

Variations  in  the  Eye  among  Animals,  .  .  .38 
Design  in  the  Structure  of  the  Ear,  .  .  .  .33 
Wonderful  Mechanism  of  the  Ear,  .  .  .  .35 
Evolution :  Its  Meaning  and  Its  Types,  .  .  .37 

"Natural  Selection," 38 

Design  Implied  in  the  Darwinian  Theory,    .         .         .38 
The  Broadest  Theory  of  Evolution,       .         .         .         .40 

The  Atomic  Theory  in  Lucretius,          .         .         .         .41 

Design  Still  Presupposed,     ......     42 

Molecular  Physics  and  Design,     .         .         .         .         .43 

Evolution  of  the  Eye  and  the  Ear  Implies  Design,  .  44 
Argument  of  Design  Strengthened  by  the  Doctrine  of 

Evolution,      ......  .45 

Design  Conspicuous  in  Living  Organisms,  .  .  .46 
Design  Evinced  in  Comparative  Anatomy,  .  .  .47 
Beauty  and  Sublimity  in  Nature  prove  Design,  .  .  48 
Objection  from  the  Operations  of  Instinct  and  the 

Growth  of  Plants,  .  .  .48 

The  Several  Sciences  Illustrate  Design,  .  .  .49 
Design  in  the  Basis  of  Human  Society,  .  .  .51 
Extent  of  Divine  Power,  ......  52 

The  Unity  of  God, 53 

Does  Design  Prove  Creation  ?  .  ....  54 


CONTENTS  IX 


CHAPTER   IV. 

PAGE 

THE  MORAL  ARGUMENT, 56 

The  Freedom  of  the  Will, 56 

Alleged  Occult  Causes  of  Choice,  ...  .57 

Alleged  Uniformity  of  Choices,  .....  58 
Conscious  Subjection  to  Moral  Law,  .  .  .  .60 
Conscience  not  a  Form  of  Self-love,  .  .  .  .60 
Consciousness  of  a  Righteous  Lawgiver,  .  .  .62 
The  Benevolence  of  God  Inferred,  .  .  .  .62 

A  Righteous  Moral  Governor, 63 

Proof  of  the  Benevolence  of  God,          .         .         .         .64 

The  Problem  of  Evil, 65 

Doctrine  of  God's  Goodness  Impregnable,     .         .         .65 

Metaphysical  Evil, 66 

Physical  Evil,        ........     67 

Moral  Evil, 69 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  INTUITION  OF  THE  INFINITE  AND  ABSOLUTE,         .    72 

What  the  Terms  Denote, 72 

Perception  of  the  Finite  and  the  Relative,  .         .         .73 
The  Unconditioned,      .......     72 

The  Infinite  and  Absolute  is  Personal,  .         .         .73 

The  Infinitude  of  God's  Attributes,  .         .     74 


CHAPTER  VI. 

ANTI-THEISTIC  THEORIES, 75 

Materialism  Defined,     .......     75 

No  Bridge  Between  Mind  and  Matter,  .         .         .         .75 

The  Conservation   of  Energy  Lends  no  Support  to  Ma- 
terialism,        ........     76 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Reciprocal  Influence  of  Mind  and  Body,       .         .         .76 
Absurdities  of  Materialism,  ......     77 

Materialism  Contradicts  the  Moral  Sentiments,     .         .     78 
Argument  from  Conscience  against  Materialism.  .         .      ?!l 
Forms  of  Pantheism,    .......     81 

Assumptions  of  Pantheism,  ......     S-J 

Pantheism  Inconsistent  with  Conscience,      .         .         .82 
Positivism  Self-contradictory,       .         .         .         .          .82 

Positivism  Driven  to  a  Dilemma,  .         .         .         .83 

Herbert  Spencer's  Agnostic  Theory,      .         .         .         .88 

Agnosticism  Self-contradictory, 84 

Religion  on  a  Level  with  Science,  .  .  .  .84 
Agnosticism  Denies  Free-will,  .  .  .  .  .85 
Alleged  "  Relativity  of  Knowledge,1'  .  .  .  .85 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  FUTURE  LIFE  OF  THE  SOUL, 87 

Future  Life  not  Proven  by  the  mere  Desire  for  It,       .     87 
Materialism  Excluded,  ......     87 

Proof  from  Capacity  for  Progress,          .         .         .         .88 

God's  Moral  Government  Incomplete  Here,  .         .     89 

Life  a  Probation, .90 

Man's  Capacity  for  Fellowship  with  God,      .         .         .91 


NOTE 

THE  ONTOLOGICAL  ARGUMENT,         ...  93 

The  Argument  of  Anselm,    ....  .  W> 

Objections  and  Answers,       ......  94 


.  3      >        > 

'DO. 


NATURAL  THEOLOGY 
CHAPTER  I. 

THE   NATURE   AND   ORIGIN   OF   RELIGION 

IT  is  the  province  of  Theology  to  present  an  ac- 
curate statement  of  the  truths  and  evidences  of 

religion.  Natural  Theology  deals  with 
Natural  The-  one  branch  of  the  subject.  It  embraces 

the  doctrines  and  proofs  which  are  dis- 
coverable by  "  the  light  of  Nature  ; '  that  is  to  say, 
by  reason  independently  of  aid  from  a  special  rev- 
elation. Hence  Natural  Theology  makes  no  appeal 
to  the  authority  of  that  revelation  which  Chris- 
tians, with  good  reason,  believe  to  have  been  made 
to  mankind  and  to  be  recorded  in  the  Bible.  "  Re- 
what  is  Re-  Hgion,"  in  the  general  sense  of  the  term, 

signifies  the  beliefs  of  men  respecting  a 
supernatural  power,  or  powers,  together  with  the 
feelings  and  practices  connected  with  such  beliefs. 
The  word  "  Religion "  is  derived,  not,  as  it  has 
often  been  thought,  from  the  Latin  word  religare, 
signifying  "  to  bind '  -in  which  case  the  reference 


2  \\TVRAL   THEOLOGY 

would  'be.  .to.  the  tond ,  uniting  man  to  objects  of 
faith  and  worship ;  but  it  conies  probably  from 
reliyere,  meaning  "  to  ponder '  -the  idea  being  a 
reverential  consideration  of  divine  things.  In  the 
meaning  usually  attached  to  the  term  in  former 
days,  and  at  present,  unless  one  has  occasion  to  look 
beyond  the  limits  of  Christendom,  "  Religion  '  is 
synonymous  with  Theism ;  and  by  Theism  is 
meant  the  exclusive  recognition  of  one  personal 
God,  with  certain  cardinal  beliefs  concerning  man 
and  his  destiny  which  are  commonly  linked  to 
Theistic  doctrine. 

We  must  not  confound  the  oriyin  of  religion,  or 
the  way  in  which  religious  beliefs  and  feelings 
The  origin  spring  up  in  the  human  soul,  with  the 
dLtincffrom  proofs  of  religion.  It  is  possible  that 
when  the  rise  of  religion  in  the  soul  is 
considered,  there  may  be  deduced  from  its  very 
genesis,  as  a  fact  of  experience,  valid  evidence  of 
its  truth.  Yet  there  is  a  difference  not  to  be  over- 
looked between  our  spontaneous  impressions  and 
beliefs,  and  the  convictions  that  rest  upon  the 
ground  of  reasoning  and  reflection. 

As  to  the  origin  of  religion,  various  theories 
which  once  had  their  advocates  are  now  obsolete. 

Theory  One  opinion  that  did  not  lack  champions 
nnin£  in  the  past  is  that  religion  was  at  the 
2C>  start  a  device  of  shrewd  statesmen  and 
law-givers,  who  invented  it  as  a  means  of  managing 


THE  NATURE  AND   ORIGIN  OF  RELIGION          3 

the  rude  mass  of  mankind  whom  they  could  im- 
press by  its  hopes  and  terrors.  A  kindred  the- 
ory traced  religion  to  the  cunning  of  priests,  who 
contrived  by  its  agency  to  build  up  their  sway. 
A  sufficient  answer  to  conjectures  of  this  class  is 
that  unless  there  were  beforehand  native,  pow- 
erful tendencies  to  religion  in  the  human  breast, 
no  devices  of  knavish  leaders  to  establish  their 
control  by  such  means  would  be  of  any  avail. 
There  would  be  no  response  to  their  appeals. 
There  would  be  no  materials  in  human  nature  out 
of  which  to  forge  their  instrument.  Another  old 
Theory  theory  was  that  religion  is  born  of  ir- 
i  rational  fear.  Surrounded  by  the  un- 
known, men  are  afraid  as  children  are 
frightened  in  the  dark.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
fear  has  much  to  do  with  the  growth  of  various 
forms  of  superstition ;  but  religion  is  too  vast 
and  enduring  a  superstructure  to  rest  on  so  slen- 
der a  foundation.  It  is  nearer  the  truth  to  say 
that  religion  engenders  fear,  than  that  fear  engen- 
ders religion.  Another  ancient  method  of  ac- 
counting for  the  religions  of  the  world,  which  has 
been  revived  of  late,  is  that  they  are  the  offspring 
of  dreams.  Savages  dream  of  the  dead 

that  religion  whom  thev  have  known,  especially  of  de- 
is    the     off-  J  .'  J 

spring  of  ceased  parents,  and  mistake  tnese  pnan- 

tasms  for  real  persons.      When,  in  this 

way,  belief  in  the  existence  and  agency  of  ghosts  has 


4  NATURAL    THEOLOGY 

been  produced,  it  is  said  to  be  a  short  step  to  in- 
voke them,  and  to  connect  with  them  other  sorts 
of  religious  service.  Homage  paid  to  dead  ances- 
tors, thus  arising,  is  pronounced  to  be  everywhere 
the  primitive  type  of  religion.  This  theory  de- 
rives whatever  plausibility  pertains  to  it  from  the 
circumstance  that  in  the  religions  of  savage  tribes, 
the  influence  of  dreams  plays  a  prominent  part. 
It  partakes  of  the  superficiality  of  those  parallel 
theories  which  would  find  the  basis  of  conscience 
and  morality,  not  in  the  constitution  of  the  soul, 
but  in  the  experiences  of  pleasure  and  pain,  or  in 
other  sources  purely  empirical.  Historically,  the 
dream-theory  is  untenable,  since  the  most  ancient 
forms  of  religion  among  heathen  nations  are  not 
capable  of  being  traced  to  the  origin  alleged.  This 
is  true,  for  example,  of  the  religions  of  the  Aryan 
races. 

Not  more  tenable  is  "  animism,"  the  opinion  that 

the  origin  of  all  worship  is  in  the  idea  of  savages 

that  souls  make  their  abode  in  things  liv- 

Animism.     .  ,     .  .  -,-, 

ing  and  inanimate.  But  many  gods  are 
simply  personified  forces  of  nature.  The  impres- 
sion from  grand  objects,  like  the  sun  and  the  sky, 
even  the  feelings  of  conscience,  and  a  haunting 
sense  of  the  supernatural,  are  among  the  sources 
of  great  religions,  and  even  help  to  shape  the  wor- 
ship of  rudest  tribes.  Moreover,  it  is  an  assump- 
tion that  the  primitive  man  was  a  savage. 


THE  NATURE  AND   ORIGIN  OF  RELIGION          5 

• 

Some  would  ascribe  religion  to  a  primitive,  mirac- 
ulous revelation.    But  this  would  imply  in  man  what 
may  be  called  a  religious  nature.   To  sup- 

Theory  of  a 

primitive  rev-  pose  that  the  fundamental  truths  of  re- 
ligion gain  a  lodgement  in  the  mind  and 
heart  as  we  learn  about  a  remote  country  from  a 
traveller,  there  being  no  previous  affinity  for  these 
truths,  no  reaching  out  after  God,  is  hardly  less  un- 
satisfactory than  the  several  theories  noticed  above. 

t/ 

It  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  there  is  an  in- 
ternal faculty  of  faith,  a  special  organ  of  spiritual 
NO  distinct    vision,  corresponding  to  the  eye  by  which 
ty>  we  perceive  the  things  of  sense.     The 
objects  of  faith  are  things  in  their  nature  invisible, 
or  at  all  events  still  in  the  future.     Faith  is  the 
mind's  confidence  in  their  reality,  although  it  can 

tf   *  tj 

be  verified  by  no  such  experimental  test  as  we  can 
apply  in  the  sciences  resting  on  observation.  Yet 
faith,  if  it  be  reasonable,  is  not  without  sufficient 
evidence,  although  of  a  different  kind.  The  fun- 
damental truths  of  religion  are  not  demonstrable 
like  the  theorems  of  geometry.  The  data  on  which 
The  data  of  these  truths  rest  are  not  present  in  the 
faith.  same  form  and  degree  in  every  mind. 
With  regard  to  this  point,  much  depends  on  the 
state  of  conscience  and  moral  sensibility,  whether 
or  not  it  be  sound  and  normal.  In  this  province, 
more  than  in  some  others,  the  bent  of  the  judgment 
varies  with  the  bent  of  character.  The  inward 


6  NATURAL    THEOLOGY 

certitude  of  faith  is  a  feeling,  but  that  feeling,  it 
must  not  be  forgotten,  has  a  reasonable  ground. 

In  order  to  arrive  at  a  correct  view  of  the  gene- 
sis of  religion  we  must  direct  our  attention  to  its 
permanent  constituents.     What  are  the 

The   true 

pnesisofre-  elements  that  persist  and  appear  in  its 
purest  and  maturest  form  ?     In  what  does 
the  life  of  religion  consist?      What  is  the  inde- 
structible root  that  lives  on  when  rude,  wild  off- 
shoots from  it  have  withered  away?     Religious 
perceptions  may  be  undeveloped.     They  may  be 
obscure.     They  may  be  perverted  into  a  thousand 
fantastic  phases  of  opinion  and  sentiment.     So  the 
aesthetic  nature  may  be  gratified  for  a  while  with 
the  coarsest  products  of  art.     A  bonfire  may  be  ad- 
mired more  than  a  sunset,  and  the  daub  of  a  village 
sign-painter  preferred  to  a  madonna  of  Raphael ; 
but  we  do  not  thence  conclude  that  there  is  no 
sense  of  beauty  native  to  the  soul.     Because  the 
moral  nature  may  be  seemingly  paralyzed,  misdi- 
rected by  passion,  so  far  perverted  as  to  lend  a  tem- 
porary approval  to  acts  of  savage  cruelty,  we  do 
not  infer  that  conscience  is  no  essential  function  of 
the  human  spirit,  or  that  there  is  no  objective,  im- 
mutable standard  of  right.     In  like  manner  the 
multiplicity  of  religions,  witli  the  herd  of  super- 
stitions connected  with  them,  does  not  disprove  the 
reality  of  religion  as  a  normal  function  of  our  nat- 
ure, but  rather  supports  its  claim  to  be  so  regarded. 


THE  NATURE  AND   ORIGIN  OF  RELIGION          7 

When  we  explore  for  the  sources  of  religious  faith 
we  are  brought  finally  to  the  feelings  of  depend- 
ence and  of  obligation,  and  to  the  native 

The  radical  .  °      . 

sources  of  re-  yearning  of  the  finite  spirit  for  a  deeper 
and  more  satisfying  rest  and  fellowship. 
When  the  meaning  of  the  word  "  I "  dawns  upon 
the  soul,  there  is  a  consciousness,  however  vague, 
of  individuality,  of  distinction  from  things  without. 
We  are  conscious  of  the  power  to  act  upon  things 
external,  including  our  own  physical  organism. 
Yet,  at  the  same  time,  we  are  conscious  of  being 
acted  upon  by  them.  Along  with  the  sense  of  lim- 
itation in  relation  to  the  world  without,  we  find  in 
our  freedom  and  self-activity  the  assurance  that  it 
is  not  upon  the  world  without  that  we  are  depend- 
ent for  our  being.  The  consciousness-  of  self  as  a 
finite  spirit  includes  a  nascent  consciousness  of  a 
Spirit  Infinite  "  in  whom  we  live,"  who  is  the  ground 
of  that  being  which  knows  itself  as  neither  self- 
originated  nor  }^et  as  of  a  piece  with  its  environment 
of  matter.  But  along  with  the  sense  of  freedom, 
of  personal  agency,  there  awakes  in  the  soul  the 
consciousness  of  a  moral  law  independent  of  the 
will,  of  a  voice  within  speaking  with  authority. 
The  Being  on  whom  we  are  dependent  is  recog- 
nized in  the  depths  of  the  soul  as  a  righteous  law- 
giver. The  mandates  of  conscience  are  felt  to  be 
His  in  junctions.  There  is  a  sense  of  accountable- 
ness  to  Him.  But  besides  these  feelings  of  depend- 


8  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

ence  and  of  obligation,  there  spring  up  yearnings 
for  communion  with  the  Being  thus  acknowledged 
or  divined  to  exist.  There  is  a  craving  for  rest  in 
Him.  There  are  feelings  of  awe  and  reverence,  of 
thankfulness  and  love,  which  flow  out  toward  the 
Being  thus  revealed  to  the  soul  as  the  soul's  nature 
is  unfolded  to  itself.  Of  course  it  is  not  pretended 
that  faith  in  God  is,  at  the  outset,  explicit.  It  is 
Uncievei-  germinant,  not  developed.  It  may  be  a 
?ertecinfl)?ms  surmise  more  than  a  belief.  It  may 
exist  more  as  an  inkling,  a  presentiment, 
than  as  a  clear  perception.  Nor  is  it  overlooked 
that  there  may  be  mental  unripeness  and  moral 
degradation  where,  in  the  room  of  faith  in  the  liv- 
ing God,  there  arises  a  superstitious  belief  in  "  gods 
many  and  lords  many."  Nor,  again,  is  it  forgotten 
that  an  atheistic  mood  may  grow  up  which  para- 
lyzes faith,  or  a  moral  recklessness  that  silences 
the  testimonies  within.  Nevertheless  it  is  true  that 
the  seeds  of  religion  are  in  this  spontaneous  con- 
sciousness of  a  bond  uniting  us  to  the  Author  and 
Sustainer  of  our  being,  call  it  a  natural  faith,  a  re- 
ligious susceptibility,  a  "  consciousness  of  God,"  or 
by  whatever  other  name  one  may  choose  to  desig- 
nate it.  It  is  not,  be  it  observed,  a  blind,  irrational 
feeling.  However  confused  it  may  be  at  the  outset, 
a  rational  element  enters  into  it.  A  like  indistinct- 
ness likewise  belongs  at  the  outset  to  the 
tion  of  material  objects  by  the  senses. 


THE  NATURE  AND   ORIGIN  OF  RELIGION          9 

Nothing  can  be  known  of  God,  not  even  His  ex- 
istence, except  through  the  manifestations  which 
God's  self-  He  makes  of  Himself,  or  his  self-revela- 
heoVwlaappre^  tion.  This  addresses  itself  not  to  the 
reason  exclusively,  but  also  to  the  con- 
science and  the  affections.  As  in  relation  to  a  visible 
object,  there  must  be  an  open  eye  to  behold  it,  and  as 
in  the  case  of  audible  sounds  there  must  be  an  ear 
to  hear,  so,  if  one  would  apprehend  the  self-revela- 
tion of  God,  there  must  be  in  the  soul  an  exercise  of 
the  power  of  discernment.  And  this  is  inseparable 
from  that  prior  life  of  religion  in  the  soul  which  has 
been  briefly  delineated  in  the  foregoing  remarks. 

The  proofs  of  the  being  of  God  are  so  many  self- 
disclosures  which  He  makes  in  the  world  as  it  pre- 
office  of  sents  itself  to  the  senses,  or  falls  under 
mentsforgthe  ^ne  eJe  °^  consciousness.  They  elicit, 
being  of  God.  g^g^en,  and  fortify  the  spontaneous 

belief  which  is  native  to  the  human  spirit.  The 
so-called  proofs  are  the  recognition  of  God  from 
different  points  of  view.  They  bring  Him  before 
us  in  various  aspects  of  His  being  and  character. 
In  the  cosmological  proof  we  discern  Him  as  the 
eternal,  self-existent  Cause  of  all  things  that  are. 
In  the  argument  of  Design,  we  are  brought  face  to 
face  with  His  wisdom.  In  the  moral  argument  we 
are  enabled  to  recognize  His  moral  perfections.1 

1  For  remarks  on  the  "  Ontological  Argument,"  see  the  Note 
at  the  end  of  the  volume. 


CHAPTEE  II. 

THE   COSMOLOGICAL   ARGUMENT    FOE    THE  BEING     OF 

GOD 

THAT  nothing  can  occur,   or  come  into   being, 
without  a  cause  is  a  self-evident  truth.     As  it  ad- 
mits of  no  demonstration,  so  it  requires 

The  princi-  .  .     .  •       -,  n 

pie  of  causa-  none,  since  the  contrary  is  inconceivable. 
And  by  this  it  is  not  simply  meant  that 
we  cannot  imagine,  or  make  a  mental  picture,  of 
an  uncaused  occurrence.  We  know  that  an  occur- 
rence uncaused  is  not  possible.  Suppose  nothing 
whatever  to  exist  and  the  universe  to  be  an  in- 
finite void.  We  know  as  well  as  we  know  anything 
that  nothing  could  ever  come  into  being.  But  it  is 
not  more  difficult  to  believe  that  something  may  be- 
gin to  exist  when  nothing  existed  before  than  it  is 
to  believe  that  something  may  begin  to  exist  which 
has  no  connection  wrhatever  with  anything  before 
it.  If  a  given  phenomenon  which  we  will  desig- 
nate by  the  letter  ?>,  follows  upon  another  phenom- 
enon which  we  will  designate  as  a,  yet  on  the  sup- 
position that  there  is  no  HCXUV  between  a  and  b- 


THE  COSMOLOG1CAL  ARGUMENT 

that  a  exerts  not  the  slightest  influence  in  giving 
existence  to  b — it  is  plain  that  we  might  as  well 
think  of  a  as  absent  altogether.  For  a  does  not  lend 
us  a  jot  of  aid  in  accounting  for  the  occurrence  of 
b.  If  it  were  found  or  assumed  that  a  is  the  in- 
variable antecedent  of  b — that  is,  that  b  never  oc- 
curs save  in  this  association  with  «,  the  conclusion 
is  the  same.  It  has  been  maintained  by  some  that 
Theory  of  the  foundation  of  the  causal  idea  is  the 

*  *  customs  r  v 

association."  customary  association  in  our  minds  of 
one  thing  with  another.  The  habit  of  associating 
in  our  thoughts  one  thing  with  another — for  ex- 
ample, fire  with  a  burning  sensation  when  our  flesh 
is  brought  into  contact  with  it — is  due  to  a  mental 
law.  This  law  or  process  of  association  is  inde- 
pendent of  the  will.  Therefore,  we  attribute  it  to 
an  imaginary  necessity.  Then,  it  is  contended, 
we  fancy  that  there  is  a  like  bond  of  connection  in 
external  things,  and  assume  some  sort  of  agency  or 
power  in  the  fire  with  which  to  produce  the  conse- 
quence. Reflection  upon  what  has  been  said  above 
will  convince  us  that  this  solution  of  the  problem 
of  causation  is  wholly  inadequate.  There  is  more 
in  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  than 

Cause  more 

^n  inLa™~  mere  succession  or  connection  in  time. 

ft  DIG      clIlLcCG™ 

dence.  rj^g  causa]_  intuition  is  ineradicable.     It 

resists  every  attempt  of  the  nature  described  to  re- 
solve it  into  an  illusion. 

Something   must   have    existed   from    eternity. 


12  NATURAL  THEOLOGY 

This  is  an  unavoidable  inference  from  the  fact 
that  something  exists  now.  We  behold  the  world 
An  eternal  and  ourselves  as  a  part  of  it.  Phenom- 

something.  IT  1%  r    L  • 

ena  appear  and  disappear.  Motion  is 
everywhere.  It  is  a  proverbial  saying  that  change 
is  written  upon  everything.  We  are  compelled 
by  a  necessity  of  thought  to  recognize  the  existence 
of  an  eternal  something,  which  we  may  term  the 
First  Cause.  At  this  point  we  do  not  inquire  fur- 
ther. We  do  not  now  seek  to  ascertain  the  nature 
of  the  Being  thus  proved  to  exist.  That  inquiry 
will  come  up  later.1 

Here,  however,  we  may  encounter  an  objection. 
Grant,  it  may  be  said,  that  the  world  presupposes 

a  cause  of  its  existence,  and  that  we  are 

Theory    of 

an  infinite  shut  up  to  this  conclusion  :  why,  never- 

eprina  -1-  *>  ' 


series. 


theless,  may  we  not  suppose  that  the 
proximate  cause  is  preceded  by  one  before  it,  and 
so  on  in  an  endless  series  ?  We  need  not  affirm,  it 

1  It  may  be  well  to  make  mention  here  of  the  objection  of 
Kant  to  the  cosmological  argument — the  argument  from  causa- 
tion— that  the  law  of  cause  and  effect  is  applicable  only  within 
the  sphere  of  experience,  in  relation  to  Unite  objects,  and  to 
these  only  as  apprehended  by  us.  But  this  is  an  assumption. 
It  is  a  part  of  the  scepticism  which  underlies  the  Kantian  sys- 
tem. In  support  of  it  it  is  said  that  "antinomies,"  or  logical 
contradictions,  real  and  insoluble,  arise  when  the  law  of  cause 
and  effect  is  attempted  to  be  applied  beyond  the  limit  thus  de- 
fined. But  the  "antinomies"  are  soluble.  They  have  been 
shown  to  rest  upon  fallacies. 


THE  COSMOLOGICAL  ARGUMENT  13 

is  alleged,  the  existence  of  an  eternal  being ;  there 
is  an  alternative — namely,  the  supposition  of  an 
infinite  series.  This  objection  seems  plausible, 
but  a  little  thought  shows  it  to  be  fallacious.  We 
require  a  cause,  but  on  the  track  of  an  infinite  se- 
ries there  is  no  real  cause.  There  is  simply  a  re- 
gress from  step  to  step  in  search  for  one.  How 
shall  we  account  for  the  last  member  in  the  sup- 
posed series?  Not  through  the  next  preceding 
member ;  for  the  power  is  not  in  that.  Nor 
throusfh  the  member  the  third  in  order  back  of  the 

o 

effect,  nor  anywhere  beyond.  The  answer  to  the 
objection  is  stated  in  a  popular  way  when  it  is  said 
that  "the  chain  hangs  on  nothing."  The  retreat 
from  step  to  step  is  merely  the  repeated  postpone- 
ment of  the  question,  What  is  the  cause  ?  The  fal- 
lacious character  of  the  hypothesis  of  an  infinite 
series  may  be  perceived  in  another  way.  Time  is 
not  an  agent.  It  has  in  it  no  causal  efficiency. 
We  may,  therefore,  think  away  the  element  of  time 
from  the  series.  Its  members  are  then  crowded  to- 
gether with  no  "before"  or  "after"  in  reference  to 
either.  Thus  it  becomes  obvious  that  in  the  series 
there  is  no  causal  agency  whatever.  In  fine,  we  do 
not  explain  the  world,  or  advance  an  inch  toward 
explaining  it,  when  we  refer  it  to  something  that 
is  itself  also  an  effect. 

In  truth,  we  do  not  grasp  the  real  significance  of 
the  intuition  of  Cause  until  we  discern  that  it  in- 


14  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

volves  the  recognition  of  a  Cause  uncaused — a  self- 
existent  being,  dependent  upon  nothing  beyond  it- 
self.   Attaining  this  conception  the  mind 

"  Cause*'  im- 

piles   »  First  is  at  rest.     Until  then  its  demand  for  a 

Cause." 

cerise  is  not  appeased. 

We  have  commented  on  the  theory  of  an  infinite 
series.  In  point  of  fact,  however,  it  is  a  theory 

which  no  one  holds.  Such  as  profess  to 
ries  not  be-  disbelieve  in  Theism  attribute  self-exist- 

lieved  in. 

ence  to  matter  or  to  something  imper- 
sonal. The  supposition  of  an  infinite  regress  of 
phenomena  is  not  actually  embraced.  It  is  noth- 
ing more  than  a  weapon  to  fence  with,  and  then  to 
be  immediately  cast  away. 

There  is  another  step  to  be  taken  in  the  analy- 
sis of  the  idea  of  the  First  Cause.  An  uncaused 

cause  is  a  free  cause.     It  is  a  self-mov- 

The     First    .  J  .    . 

cause  a  free  mg,  sen-determining  agency.  In  other 
words,  it  is  voluntary.  The  self-existent 
being  is  endowed  with  Will,  and  being  endowed 
with  will  is  personal.  The  action  of  a  power  which 
is  necessitated  to  act,  or  to  act  in  a  particular  way, 
falls  into  the  category  of  effects.  In  our  search 
for  the  cause  of  all  things  that  begin  to  be,  we 
are  led  up  to  the  acknowledgment  of  a  personal 
Deity. 

When  we  look  into  the  origin  of  our  idea  of 
Cause  we  are  confirmed  in  the  conclusion  that  the 
self-existent,  eternal  being  is  a  voluntary  agent. 


THE  COSMOLOOICAL  ARGUMENT  15 

The  human  mind  is  triple  in  its  faculties.  It  has 
the  three  capacities  of  intellect,  sensibility  or  feel- 
e  a  o  f  ing,  and  will.  In  the  department  of  feel- 

1 


from  our  voi-  ing  the  mind  is  passive.    Feeling  springs 

untary  agen- 

cy.  up  oi  itself,  either  in  the  form  ot  sensa- 

tion through  contact  with  the  outer  world,  or  in 
the  higher  forms  in  which  it  may  be  awakened 
within  us.  So,  with  a  single  exception  shortly  to 
be  noted,  our  processes  of  thought  are  governed 
by  fixed  laws  of  association  which  are  quite  exempt 
from  our  control.  It  is  by  the  exertion  of  the  will 
alone  that  we  become  conscious  of  power,  and  ar- 
rive at  the  notion  of  causation.  We  have  no  di- 
rect knowledge  of  anything  of  the  nature  of  cause, 
nor  could  we  ever  get  such  knowledge,  except 
through  this  exercise  of  energy  in  voluntary  action. 
The  will  influences  intellectual  states  through  at- 
tention, which  is  a  voluntary  act.  We  can  fasten 
our  observation  on  one  thing,  or  one  idea,  in  pref- 
erence to  another.  The  nascent  activity  of  the 
will  belongs  to  the  earliest  development  of  the 
mind.  It  is  doubtful  whether  distinct  perception 
would  be  possible  without  a  directing  of  the  at- 
tention to  one  after  another  of  the  qualities  of  ex- 
ternal objects,  or  at  least  without  such  a  discrim- 
ination among  the  phenomena  presented  to  the 
senses  as  involves  the  exercise  of  attention.  Now, 
were  it  not  for  this  consciousness  of  causal  activ- 
ity in  ourselves,  in  our  own  wills,  were  we  merely 


16  NATURAL    THEOLOGY 

the  subject  of  passive  impressions  from  the  world 

without,  the  conception  of  cause  would  be  wanting. 

Inasmuch  as  the  only  cause   of   which  we  are 

immediately  conscious  is   will,    it   is   natural  and 

inference  reasonable  to  refer  the  power  which  acts 

source  of  the  upon  us  from  without  to  a  will  as  its  di- 

operatious  of  ,,  e,  i   -i 

Nature  is  in  rect  or  ulterior  source,  borne  philoso- 
phers on  this  ground  maintain  that  there 
is  no  other  power  but  will-power,  and  that  the  ac- 
tivities of  nature  are  identical  with  divine  volitions. 
It  is  doubtful  whether  this  conclusion  is  altogether 
justified.  It  is  not  clear  how  it  is  consistent  with 
attributing  a  distinct  reality  to  external  nature  and 
to  our  own  mental  being.  Nevertheless,  analogy 
inspires  the  belief  that  the  forces  of  nature  in 
their  origin  and  continued  operation  are  not  dis- 
severed from  a  Supreme  Will.  A  man  by  an  ex- 
ertion of  will  raises  his  arm,  clenches  his  hand, 
and  strikes  a  blow.  There  is  force  in  the  arm  and 
force  in  the  fist.  Yet  the  will  initiates  all,  and 
were  the  exertion  of  the  will  suspended,  the  arm 
would  drop  powerless  at  his  side.  Following  the 
suggestions  of  analogy,  we  may  hold  that  the 
operations  of  nature  spring  from  forces  which  are 
not  only  imparted  by  the  will  of  God,  but  are  also 
sustained  by  the  same  energizing  will.  The  pre- 
cise mode  of  the  concurrence  of  the  original  and  the 
dependent  agency  is  beyond  our  ken.  NVhilo,  then, 
analogy  points  us.  to  .the  divine  will  as  the  fountain- 


THE  COSMOLOGICAL  ARGUMENT  17 

head  of  natural  forces,  and  as  immanent  and  active 
in  all  things,  we  are  not  driven  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  ordinary  idea  of  nature  as  an  entity  is  il- 
lusive. We  are  not  obliged  to  conclude  that 
nature  is  naught  but  an  aggregate  of  divine  voli- 
tions. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  polytheistic  religions  were 
not  in  error  in  identifying  the  manifold  activities 
of  nature  with  voluntary  agency.  The 
polytheistic  spontaneous  feelings  of  mankind  in  this 
particular  have  been  in  accord  with  the 
suggestions  of  philosophy.  The  error  of  polythe- 
ism lies  in  its  splintering  of  that  will  which  is  im- 
manent in  all  the  operations  of  nature  into  a  plu- 
rality of  personal  agents,  a  throng  of  divinities, 
each  active  and  dominant  in  a  section  of  the  uni- 
verse. 

How  shall  we  confute  polytheism  ?  What  war- 
rant is  there  for  asserting  the  unity  of  the  Power 
that  pervades  nature  ? 

In  the  first  place,  an  example  of  such  a  unity  is 
afforded  in  the  operation  of  our  own  wills.  We 
unit  of  Pn^  fol^u  a  multitude  of  volitions  ;  we 
?r°omnanau£  exert  our  voluntary  agency  in  many  dif- 
ferent directions ;  this  agency  stretches 
over  long  periods  of  time  ;  yet  the  same  identical 
will  is  the  source  of  all  these  effects.  To  attribute 
the  sources  of  our  passive  impressions  collectively 
to  a  single  Ego  without,  as  our  personal  exertions 
2  ' 


18  NATURAL   THEOL007 

consciously  emanate  from  a  single  Ego  within,  is 
natural  and  rational. 

Secondly,  what  logicians  call  the  "  law  of  parsi- 
mony ' '  precludes  us  from  assuming  more  causes  to 
account  for  a  given  effect  than  are  neces- 

The    "law 

of    parsi-  sarv.     One  self  -existent  Bein»-  suffices  to 

mony. "  •' 

account  for  the  phenomena  of  nature. 
To  postulate  a  plurality  of  such  beings — were  a 
plurality  of  self-existent  beings  metaphysically  pos- 
sible— would  compel  the  conclusion  that  they  are 
either  in  concord  or  in  conflict. 

Thirdly,  the  fact  that  nature  is  one  coherent  sys- 
tem proves  that  the  operations  of  nature  spring 

from  one  and  only  one  Cause.    The  prog- 
Nature  a  f  -  ji       i       IT 
single  sys-  ress   oi   science   is    constantly   levelling 

the  barriers  which  might  be  imagined  to 
divide  the  visible  universe  into  distinct  and  sepa- 
rate provinces.  Men  speak  of  the  heavens  and  the 
earth  ;  but  the  earth  belongs  in  the  starry  system. 
The  earth  is  a  planet,  and  with  its  associate  planets 
is  one  of  countless  similar  groups,  not  alien  from 
one  another,  but  bound  together  to  form  the  stellar 
universe.  The  unity  of  the  world  proves  the  unity 
of  God. 


CHAPTEE  in. 

THE   ARGUMENT   OF  DESIGN 

THE  marks  of  design  in  nature  reveal  to  us  its 
intelligent  author.  For  the  same  reason  that  we 
recognize  an  intelligent  cause  in  the  case  of  count- 
less products  of  human  agency  whose  particular 
origin  and  authorship  we  know  not,  we  infer  an 
intelligent  cause  of  the  objects  of  nature.  In  them 
we  discern  equal  evidence  of  an  end  secured  by  the 
selection  and  combination  of  means  adapted  to  ac- 
complish it.  The  signs  of  forethought,  precon- 
ception, purpose,  are  just  as  manifest  in  what  we 
style  the  works  of  nature  as  they  are  in  the  works 
character  °^  man-  This  mode  of  reasoning  is  often 
men?eof  rle-  considered  an  argument  from  analogy. 
We  sometimes  apply  the  term  "  analogy ' 
to  a  merely  figurative  likeness  which  the  imagina- 
tion suggests  ;  as  when  we  speak  of  the  "  analogy  ' 
between  a  rushing  stream  and  the  rapid  utterance 
of  an  excited  orator.  This  is  the  language  of  po- 
etry. But  when  we  have  always  found  that  certain 
properties  in  an  animal  are  united  with  a  given 
characteristic  -  -  for  example,  speed  -  -  we  expect, 


20  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

wherever  we  meet  the  same  collection  of  properties, 
to  find  in  their  company  this  additional  quality. 
This  we  look  for  with  a  certain  degree  of  confi- 
dence even  when  no  special  connection  between 
such  properties  and  their  associate  has  yet  been 
detected.  This  is  an  argument  from  an- 

It  is  an  in- 

ductive  argu-  alogy.  But  the  argument  of  design,  as 
J.  S.  Mill  has  pointed  out,  is  a  genuine 
instance  of  inductive  reasoning.  "  The  design 
argument,"  says  Mill,  "is  not  drawn  from  mere 
resemblance  in  nature  to  the  work  of  human  intel- 
ligence, but  from  the  special  character  of  this  re- 
semblance. The  circumstances  in  which  it  is  al- 
leged that  the  world  resembles  the  works  of  man 
are  not  circumstances  taken  at  random,  but  are 
particular  instances  of  a  circumstance  which  ex- 
perience shows  to  have  real  connection  with  an  in- 
telligent origin,  the  fact  of  conspiring  to  an  end. 
The  argument,  therefore,  is  not  one  of  mere  anal- 
ogy. As  mere  analogy  it  has  its  weight,  but  it  is 
more  than  analogy.  It  surpasses  analogy  exactly 
as  induction  surpasses  it.  It  is  an  inductive  argu- 
ment." Being  an  inductive  argument  the  conclu- 
sion rests  on  the  same  basis  as  most  of  the  truths 
of  natural  science.  How  do  we  know  that  yonder 
apple  on  the  tree  at  the  roadside,  when  the  breeze 
shall  sever  it  from  the  bough,  will  fall  to  the 
ground  ?  It  is  an  inference  from  what  is  known 
1  Three  Essays  ou  Religion,  Theism,  pp.  1G9,  170. 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  21 

to  have  occurred  in  similar  instances  to  numberless 
material  objects.  What  is  the  law  of  gravitation  ? 
It  is  an  induction  from  observed  instances,  count- 
less to  be  sure,  yet  constituting  but  a  fraction  of 
all  the  cases  of  which  we  unhesitatingly  affirm  it. 

The  proof  from  evidences   of   design  is  often 

styled  the  argument  from  "  final  causes."     In  this 

expression,  the  term  final  refers  to  the 

Final  causes.  n   „  -i-i  >->  •  -t  -i  • 

end  for  which  anything  is  made,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  efficient  causes  concerned  in 
its  origination.  The  end  is  the  purpose  in  view, 
and  is  so  called  because  its  manifestation  is  last 
in  the  order  of  time.  Thus,  a  man  purposes  to 
build  a  house.  He  collects  the  materials,  brings 
them  into  the  proper  shape,  raises  the  walls,  and, 
in  short,  does  everything  needful  to  carry  out  his 
intention.  The  final  cause  is  seen  in  the  com- 
pleted dwelling  for  the  habitation  of  his  family. 
The  final  cause  of  a  watch  is  to  tell  the  time.  The 
efficient  causes  are  all  the  forces  and  agencies 
concerned  in  the  making  of  it  and  in  the  regular 
movement  of  its  parts. 

It  is  obvious  that  a  thing  may  be  an  end,  and, 
at  the  same  time,  a  means  to  another  end  more 

remote.     When  a  mechanic  is  making  a 

Chief    and  .  .          .  i 

subordinate  spoke,  it  is  the  spoke  wliicn  is  the  int- 
ends. . 

mediate  end  in  view.     But  the  end  of 

the  spoke  is  to  connect  the  rim  of  the  wheel  with 
the  hub.  The  end  of  the  wheel  is  to  revolve  upon 


22  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

the  axle  ;  and  the  wagon  is  the  last  end  for  which 
all  its  parts  are  fashioned  and  connected.  There 
are  subordinate  ends  and  chief  ends.  We  are  not, 
therefore,  to  ignore  the  proof  of  design,  even  in 
cases  where  the  chief  end,  the  ultimate  purpose, 
may  be  faintly  or  not  at  all  perceived. 

It   is  sometimes  said   that    "  we  cannot  reason 

from  the  works  of  man  to  the  works  of  nature." 

Why  not  ?     We  are  seeking  to  explain 

nature  to  be  the  origin  of  the  scene  that  is  spread  be- 

comparecl     „  . 

\\ith  works  lore  us  in  the  world  in  which  we  live,  is 
the  cause  intelligent  ?  We  know  from 
experience  what  are  the  characteristic  signs  of  in- 
telligence. These  signs  are  obvious  in  the  world 
around  us.  Kant,  in  his  comments  on  the  argu- 
ment of  design,  concedes  that  it  is  impossible  to 
explain  organized  beings,  even  to  explain  a  blade 
of  grass,  by  mechanical  agencies — by  natural  laws 
acting  without  design  presiding  over  them.  Yet 
he  says  that  possibly  if  we  could  fully  understand 
nature  we  might  dispense  with  this  solution.  This 
is  to  say  no  more  than  that  the  argument  is  not 
demonstrative.  When  Kant  says  that  the  idea  of 
design  is  not  "  constitutive,"  or  objective,  but  sub- 
jective, regulative  of  our  perceptions,  he  fails  to 
distinguish  between  two  classes  of  hypotheses. 
In.  the  case  of  one  class  they  are  only  convenient 
means  whereby  the  mind  conceives  of  objects. 
They  are  suppositions  which  the  study  of  nature 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  23 

may  or  may  not  verify.  But  in  the  case  of  the 
other  class  they  are  such  as  the  objects  inevitably 
suggest  and  bring  home  to  us  in  an  imperious  way. 
Common  sense  perceives  and  asserts  a  correspon- 
dence of  the  objects  to  them.  This  is  true  of  the 
adaptations  recognized  in  the  works  of  nature. 
Even  if  Kant  is  acknowledged  to  be  right  in  hold- 
ing that  belief  in  design  is  not  necessary  like  be- 
lief in  efficient  causes,  it  does  not  follow  that  our 
conviction  of  the  reality  of  design  is  not  well- 
founded.  We  cannot  demonstrate  that  the  men 
about  us  have  souls  like  our  own ;  yet  we  are  as 
sure  of  it  as  if  we  could. 

We  have  thus  far  spoken  of  the  design  argument 
as  analogical  or  inductive.      But  there   are  phi- 
losophers of  deservedly  high  repute  who 

Is    adapta-  /  •       •    i         £      i 

tionanapn-  look  upon  the  principle  oi  adaptation  as 

or i  principle  ?    .  .  t  J 

intuitive  or  a  priori,  and  thus  on  a  level 
with  that  of  efficient  causation.  It  cannot  be  de- 
nied that  much  can  be  said  in  favor  of  this  doc- 
trine. Is  it  not  just  as  natural  to  inquire  for  what 
purpose  things  are  as  to  ask  how  they  are  pro- 
duced? Are  we  not  as  much  impelled  to  ask 
"  What  for  "  as  "  How,"  or  "  Whence  ?  "  That  there 

is  an  orderly  plan  in  the  world  is  presup- 

Induct  ion  ,....'.  .  -r     i       j  • 

implies  de-  posed  in  inductive  reasoning.    Induction 

assumes  the  uniformity  of  nature.    From 

a  multitude  of  known  instances  of  mortality  we 

conclude  that  all  men  are  mortal.     The  uniformity 


24  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

of  nature  involves  the  truth  that  nature  is  a  sys- 
tem, or  proceeds  according  to  a  plan.  The  postu- 
late  of  science  is  the  rationalit  of  nat- 


ure. Science,  as  Professor  Huxley  truly 
declares,  is  "  the  discovery  of  the  rational  order 
that  pervades  the  universe."  Without  this  pre- 
supposition of  a  rational  order,  scientific  investi- 
gation would  be  a  chase  after  a  chimera.  Nature, 
it  is  taken  for  granted,  is  the  embodiment  of 
thoughts.  What  is  a  book  of  astronomy  but  a 
transcript  of  the  thoughts  that  are  realized  in  the 
structure  of  the  heavens  ?  All  nature  is  but  a  book 
which  science  undertakes  to  decipher  and  read. 
When  the  student  explores  any  province  of  nature, 
it  is  to  find  in  it  laws  and  adaptations.  "  Our 
reason,"  says  a  recent  writer,  "  demands  that  there 
shall  be  a  reasonableness  in  the  constitution  of 
things.  This  demand  is  a  fact  in  our  psychical 
nature  as  positive  and  irrepressible  as  an  accept- 
ance of  geometrical  axioms  and  our  rejection  of 
whatever  controverts  such  axioms."  "  There  is  in 

every  earnest  thinker  a  craving  after  a 

Craving  af-     ~  T      ,1  • 

ter  a  final  final   cause  ;    and   this   craving   can   no 

*  •  •  1  1!  CO 

more  be  extinguished  than  our  belief  in 
objective  reality.  Nothing  can  persuade  us  that 
the  universe  is  a  farrago  of  nonsense.  Our  belief 
in  what  we  call  the  evidence  of  our  senses  is  less 
strong  than  our  faith  that  in  the  orderly  sequence 
of  events  there  is  a  meaning  which  our  minds  could 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  25 

fathom  were  they  only  vast  enough."  In  favor  of 
the  view  that  the  belief  in  design  is  intuitive,  and 
as  such  underlies  all  science,  is  the  fact  that  it  has 
guided,  and  proved  an  aid,  in  scientific  discovery. 
As  an  instance,  Harvey  was  led  to  find  out  the  true 
system  of  the  circulation  of  the  blood  by  observ- 
ing that  in  the  channels  through  which  the  blood 
flows,  one  set  of  valves  open  toward  the  heart, 
while  another  set  open  in  the  opposite  direction. 

Because  nature  is  a  rational  system,  it  is  adapted 
to  our  cognitive  faculties.  This  correspondence 
Nature  Proves  that  the  author  of  the  mind  is  the 
ou??o^?tive  author  of  "the  mind  in  nature."  What 
being,  says  Cicero,  that  is  "  destitute 
of  intellect  and  reason  could  have  produced  these 
things  which  not  only  had  need  of  reason  to  cause 
them  to  be,  but  ivliicli  are  such  as  can  be  under- 
stood only  by  the  highest  exertions  of  reason  ?  "  2 

It  is  objected  to  the  argument  of  design  that 

what  are  styled  adaptations  are  nothing  but  "  the 

conditions   of  existence '    of   objects  in 

A        ^       Q      -I"*     4-      Q      — 

tions  not  nature.      These   conditions    being  what 

mGrG    **  coii~ 

clitions  of  ex-  they  are,  the  various   obiects  in  which 

istence." 

design  is  supposed  to  be  shown  could 
not  be  different  from  what  they  are.  For  example, 
the  bird  is  said  to  be  adapted  to  the  air  through 
which  it  flies ;  but  the  bird  could  not  exist  were 

1  John  Fiske  :    «  The  Idea  of  God,"  p.  138. 
8  De  Nat.  Deoruin,  II.  44. 


26  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

it  not  for  the  air  in  which  its  wings  are  moved. 
The  objection  is  equivalent  to  an  attempt  to  ex- 
plain the  objects  of  nature  by  mechanical  agencies 
and  conditions. 

The  objection  has  no  force  if  the  intuitive  be- 
lief in  final  causes,  or  design,  is  admitted.  But, 
apart  from  this  consideration,  "  we  find  not  merely 
the  conditions  of  mere  existence  in  the  causes  of 
effects  produced,  but  the  conditions  of  well-being, 
or  adaptations  to  a  highly  artificial,  elevated  and 
refined  existence  and  enjoyment."  We  find  use  so 
related  to  structure  that  the  thought  of  design 
springs  up  unbidden.  Take,  for  example,  the 
human  eye.  It  is  an  instrument  employed  by  a 
rational  being  for  a  purpose,  as  he  employs  a  tele- 
scope or  a  microscope.  When  we  see  how  the 
eye  is  fitted  to  its  use,  wTe  cannot  resist  the  im- 
pression that  it  was  intended  for  it.  The  idea  of 
the  organ  we  discern.  As  Whewell  well  puts  it : 
"  We  have  in  our  minds  the  idea  of  a  final  cause, 
and  when  we  behold  the  eye,  we  see  our  idea  ex- 
emplified. This  idea  then  governed  the  construc- 
tion of  the  eye,  be  its  mechanical  causes,  the  oper- 
ative agencies  that  produced  it,  what  they  may." 
"  Nothing,"  says  an  able  writer,  "  has  been  proved 
against  final  causes  when  organic  effects 
the  structure  have  been  reduced  to  their  proximate 

of  the  heart.  ,  .     .  -. . 

causes  and  to  their  determining  condi- 
tions.    It  will  be   said,  for  instance,  that  it  is  not 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  27 

wonderful  that  the  heart  contracts,  since  it  is  a  mus- 
cle, and  contractility  is  an  essential  property  of 
muscles.  But  is  it  not  evident  that  if  nature  wished 
to  make  a  heart  that  contracts,  it  behoved  to  em- 
ploy for  this  a  contractile  tissue,  and  would  it  not 
be  very  astonishing  were  it  otherwise  ?  Have  we 
thereby  explained  the  wonderful  structure  of  the 
heart  and  the  skilful  mechanism  shown  in  it? 
Muscular  contractility  explains  the  contraction  of 
the  heart ;  but  this  general  property,  which  is 
common  to  all  muscles,  does  not  suffice  to  explain 
how  or  why  the  heart  contracts  in  one  way  rather 
than  another,  why  it  has  taken  such  a  form  and 
not  such  another.  f  The  peculiarity  presented  by 
the  heart,'  says  M.  Cl.  Bernard,  '  is  that  the  mus- 
cular fibres  are  arranged  in  it  so  as  to  form  a  sort 
of  bag,  within  which  is  found  the  liquid  blood. 
The  contraction  of  these  fibres  causes  a  diminution 
of  the  size  of  this  bag,  and  consequently  an  expul- 
sion, at  least  in  part,  of  the  liquid  it  contains. 
The  arrangement  of  the  valves  gives  to  the  expelled 
liquid  the  suitable  direction.'  Now  the  precise 
question  which  here  occupies  the  thinker  is,  how 
it  happens  that  nature,  employing  a  contractile 
tissue,  has  given  it  the  suitable  structure  and  ar- 
rangement, and  how  it  rendered  it  fit  for  the  spe- 
cial and  capital  function  of  the  circulation.  The 
elementary  properties  of  the  tissues  are  the  neces- 
sary conditions  of  which  nature  makes  use  to  solve 


28  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

the  problem,  but  they  in  no  way  explain  how  it 
has  succeeded  in  solving  it.  Moreover,  M.  Cl. 
Bernard  (a  learned  physiologist)  does  not  decline 
the  inevitable  comparison  of  the  organism  with  the 
works  of  human  industry,  and  even  often  recurs  to 
it,  as,  for  instance,  when  he  says :  '  the  heart  is 
essentially  a  living  motor  machine,  a  force-pump, 
destined  to  send  into  all  the  organs  a  liquid  to 
nourish  them.  ...  At  all  degrees  of  the  ani- 
mal scale,  the  heart  fulfils  this  function  of  mechan- 
ical irrigation.'  .  .  .  '  We  may  compare,'  he 
says,  'the  histological  elements  to  the  materials 
man  employs  to  raise  a  monument.  .  .  .  No 
doubt,  in  order  that  a  house  may  exist,  the  stones 
composing  it  must  have  the  property  of  gravita- 
tion ;  but  does  this  property  explain  how  the  stones 
form  a  house  ?  ' 

It  might  be  said  of  a  locomotive  that — the  boiler 
of  iron,  with  its  capacity  to  hold  water,  being  pres- 
ent, and  the  water  being  in  it,  and  fire  beneath  it, 
and  a  chimney  above  for  the  smoke  to  escape,  and 
pipes  through  which  steam  can  pass  connected  with 
the  boiler,  and  wheels  beneath  on  which  the  loco- 
motive can  roll — it  is  sufficiently  explained.  But 
the  combination  of  these  parts,  in  their  peculiar 
forms,  and  the  relation  of  the  whole  to  that  which 
the  locomotive  does,  are  things  which  the  fore- 
going statement  altogether  fails  to  account  for. 

1  Janet's  "  Final  Causes,''  pp.  129-131. 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  29 

It  is  through  concrete  examples  that  the  most 
vivid  impression  is  made  of  the  design  that  is  ex- 
hibited in  nature.  The  human  eye  and  ear  fur- 
nish familiar  and  striking  illustrations  of  a  pre-con- 
ceived  plan. 

The  eye  is  protected  by  a  lid  which  moves  with 

great  quickness,  and  is   opened  and  shut  at  our 

pleasure.     This   delicate  organ   is   thus 

Design    in    *- 

the  structure  defended  from  harm,  as  we  take  care  to 
shield  optical  instruments  from  injury. 
When  the  eye  itself  is  examined,  it  is  found  to  be 
almost  spherical  in  form.  It  is  discovered  to  be  a 
darkened  chamber — a  camera  obscura,  having  in 
the  anterior  part  a  bi-convex  lens,  which  is  named 
the  crystalline  lens,  by  which  objects  are  focussed 
on  the  sensitive  surface  of  a  membrane  called  the 
retina.  The  eyeball,  instead  of  being  in  a  fixed 
position,  has  muscles  attached  to  it,  and  can  be 
turned  in  different  directions,  corresponding  to  the 
place  of  objects  in  the  field  of  vision — as  a  photog- 
rapher's instrument  can  be  turned  upward  or 
downward,  to  the  right  hand  or  the  left.  The 
requisite  refraction  of  the  rays  of  light,  whereby 
they  are  brought  to  a  focus  and  form  an  image  on 
the  retina,  is  effected  by  their  passage  through  the 
cornea,  the  transparent  coating  of  the  eyeball, 
the  aqueous  humor,  the  crystalline  lens,  and  the 
vitreous  humor.  The  special  use  of  the  lens  is  in 
accommodating  the  eye  to  objects  at  different  dis- 


30 


NATURAL   THEOLOGY 


tances,  since  when  it  is  removed  by  an  operation 
for  the  cataract,  the  power  of  vision  is  not  lost. 


AQUEOUS  HUMOR 


90RNEA 


CILIARY  MUSCLE 


SUSPENSORY 
LIGAMENT 


-SCLEROTIC 
CHOROID 

RETINA 


OPTIC  NERVE 


HORIZONTAL   SECTION   OF   THE   LEFT   EYE. 

The  interior  of  the  eye  is  darkened  by  the  pig- 
mented  choroid  lining  and  by  the  iris,  the  contin- 
uation of  it.  In  the  centre  of  the  iris  is  the  pupil, 
an  aperture  for  admitting  the  light ;  and  the  iris 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  31 

itself,  by  means  of  two  systems  of  muscular  fibres, 
contracts  or  dilates  the  pupil,  according  as  the 
light  is  more  or  less  intense.  The  retina  is  so 
made  that  it  is  stimulated  by  the  impact  of  light 
upon  it,  and  there  ensues  an  excitation  of  the 
fibres  of  the  optic  nerve.  When  waves  of  light  of 
different  lengths  impinge  on  the  retina,  special 
effects  are  produced,  giving  in  sensation  the  differ- 
ent colors.  The  apparatus  for  obtaining  images 
Accommo-  of  objects  near  and  far  is  one  of  the 
eye10to °d is-  most  curious  features  in  the  structure  of 
the  eye.  In  optical  instruments,  in  or- 
der to  obtain  a  distinct  image,  the  distance  be- 
tween the  lens  and  the  surface  on  which  the  im- 
age is  to  be  formed  has  to  be  increased  or  lessened 
by  moving  either  this  surface  or  the  lens  for- 
ward or  backward.  In  this  way  the  photographer 
adjusts  his  instrument.  The  focal  point  of  the 
lens  is  made  to  correspond  with  the  plate.  In 
the  eye  there  is  a  peculiar  mechanism  by  which  a 
like  result  is  effected.  This  mechanism  causes  the 
lens  to  become  more  convex  when  a  near  object  is 
to  be  looked  at.  The  lens  is  placed  between  two 
layers  of  a  suspensory  ligament,  which  is  a  pro- 
longation of  the  choroid,  one  of  the  three  interior 
coats  of  the  eye.  With  this  ligament  is  connected 
the  ciliary  muscle,  which,  when  it  is  lax,  leaves  the 
lens  in  the  compressed  state.  But  when  a  near 
object  is  to  be  viewed  this  muscle  pulls  upon  the 


32  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

choroid,  relaxes  the  ligament,  and  the  lens  forth- 
with bulges  out.  Here  is  a  self-adjusting  appara- 
tus by  which  the  eye  accommodates  itself  to  the 
perception  of  things  not  far  off.  Without  it  the 
focus  would  be  behind  the  retina,  and  no  image 
would  be  formed  upon  it.  In  the  normal  eye  of  a 
person  thirty  years  old,  a  distinct  image  can  be 
formed  of  an  object  not  nearer  than  five  inches 
from  the  organ  of  vision. 

Without  going  farther  in  this  description,  it  is 
difficult  to  avoid  the  impression  that  there  is  de- 
sign in  the  characteristics  which  have  been  ad- 
verted to,  such  as  the  arrangement  for  turning  the 
eye  in  different  directions,  and  for  seeing  distinctly 
objects  near  as  well  as  remote  ;  the  method  of 
darkening  the  interior  and  of  regulating  the  ad- 
mission of  light ;  the  peculiar  functions  of  the 
retina  and  its  relation  to  the  optic  nerve. 

The  eye  has  been  criticised  as  in  some  particu- 
lars defective,  when  considered  as  an  optical  in- 
strument. If  it  were  defective,  it  must 
fects  in  the  be  remembered  that  a  defective  instru- 
ment does  not  disprove  design  in  its 
maker,  whatever  reflection  it  may  be  thought  to 
cast  on  the  perfection  of  his  skill.  But  Helm- 
holtz,  one  of  the  critics  of  this  class,  himself  says  : 
"  The  adaptation  of  the  eye  to  its  function  is 
therefore  most  complete,  and  is  seen  in  the  very 
limits  which  are  set  to  its  defects.  Here,  the  re- 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  33 

suit  which  may  be  reached  under  the  working  of 
the  Darwinian  law  of  inheritance,  coincides  with 
what  the  wisest  Wisdom  may  have  devised  before- 
hand."1 

The  study  of  the  variations  in  the  structure  of 
the  eye  to  suit  the  habits  and  modes  of  different 

Variations  animals  offers  fresh  illustrations  of  de- 

amongViu-  sign.     For  instance,  the   shape   of    the 

pupil  is  adapted  alike  to  animals  which 

require  a  long  vertical  range  of  vision  and  to  those 

to  whom  a  long  horizontal  range  is  necessary. 

The  proofs  of  design  in  the  structure  of  the  ear 
are  scarcely  less  wonderful  than  those  which  are 
The  struct-  seen  *&  the  eye.  The  auricle,  or  external 
an  ear,  and  the  adjacent  auditory  canal  are 
so  shaped  as  to  gather  the  vibrations  of  air,  and 
direct  them  upon  the  membrane  of  the  tympanum, 
or  drum.  In  some  animals,  it  may  be  here  ob- 
served, the  auricle  has  the  form  of  a  trumpet,  and 
is  turned  by  muscles  in  various  directions.  The 
drum  has  a  muscle  attached  to  it,  the  tensor  tym- 
pani,  which  pulls  it  inward,  making  it  more 
tense.  When  the  muscle  is  relaxed,  it  returns  to 
equilibrium  by  its  own  elasticity.  Thus  there  is 
provided  the  means  of  receiving  and  transmitting 
sounds  of  different  pitch.  The  vibrations  of  the 
air  are  carried  inward  to  the  tympanum  or  internal 
ear  by  the  drum,  and  by  a  chain  of  three  little 

1  Quoted  by  Martineau,  «'  A  Study  of  Religion,"  I.,  365. 
3 


34 


NATURAL   THEOLOGY 


bones,  the  ossicles,  stretching  across  the  cavity  of 
the  drum  and  forming  together  a  lever  by  which 
the  vibrations  are  diminished  in  extent,  but  in- 


CAVITY  OF  THE  TYMPANUM 


SEMI-CIRCULAR  CANALS 


AUDITORY  CANAL  / 


MEMB.  TYMP. 


EUSTACH.  TUBE 


COCHLEA 


VERTICAL   SECTION  OF  THE  AUDITORY  APPARATUS. 


creased  in  force.  The  Eustachian  tube  forms  a 
connection  between  the  cavity  of  the  tympanum 
and  the  pharynx.  Thereby  an  undue  pressure  of 
the  atmosphere  upon  the  tympanum  from  without 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  35 

may  be  met  by  a  counter-pressure  of  air  from 
within.  The  internal  ear,  or  labyrinth,  is  partly 
bony  and  partly  membranous.  It  is  filled  with 
water,  and  over  its  lining  membrane  are  distrib- 
uted the  terminal  fibres  of  the  auditory  nerve, 
whose  excitations  precede  the  sensations  of  sound. 
The  most  highly  specialized  portion  of  the  laby- 
rinth is  the  cochlea — so  called  from  its  resemblance 
to  a  snail-shell.  At  a  certain  place  within  the 
cochlea  is  the  wonderful  organ  named  the  "Corti." 
This  is  supposed  to  contain  three  thousand  pairs 
of  rods  or  stiff  cells,  and  between  ten  thousand  and 
fifteen  thousand  hair-cells.  The  membrane  which 
carries  the  Corti  receives  the  vibrations.  By  it 
sounds  are  differentiated  in  kind  and  degree.  It 
is  thought  by  Helmholtz  and  Henan  that  the  fibres 
of  this  membrane,  like  the  strings  of  the  piano,  re- 
spond with  different  notes  to  different  vibrations. 
"Within  the  ears  of  men,"  says  Tyndall,  "and 
without  their  knowledge  or  contrivance,  this  lute 
of  three  thousand  strings  has  existed  for  ages,  ac- 
cepting the  music  of  the  outer  world,  and  render- 
ing it  fit  for  reception  by  the  brain.  Each  musical 
tremor  which  falls  upon  this  organ,  selects  from 
its  tensioned  fibres  the  one  appropriate  to  its  own 
pitch,  and  throws  that  fibre  with  unisonant  vibra- 
tion. And  thus,  no  matter  how  complicated  the  mo- 
tion of  the  external  air  may  be,  those  microscopic 
strings  can  analyze  it  and  reveal  the  constituents 


36  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

of  which  it  is  compound." '  A  somewhat  differ- 
ent theory  as  to  the  mode  of  action  of  the  Corti  is 
held  by  Rutherford  and  some  other  physiologists. 
They  suppose  that  the  cells  of  the  Corti  are  all 
impressed  by  every  vibration,  and  that  correspond- 
ing nerve-impulses  occur,  "just  as  in  a  telephone 
the  sound-vibrations  are  translated  by  the  iron 
plate  and  magnet  into  electrical  movements  which 
correspond  to  those  of  the  sound  received." 
Physiologists  find  in  instruments  which  are  the 
products  of  the  most  delicate  ingenuity,  parallels 
to  the  apparatus  by  which  sounds  are  made  audi- 
ble. In  the  human  ear,  and  occupying  very  little 
space,  we  find  a  mechanism  infinitely  surpassing  in 
its  effects  the  capacity  of  all  musical  instruments 
collectively  taken.  Wordsworth,  in  his  ode  on  the 
"  Power  of  Sound,"  has  set  forth  the  wonder  and 
mystery  of  the  organ  of  hearing  and  the  boundless 
range  of  its  capacity.  By  its  means  there  are  con- 
veyed to  the  soul  within  the  shouts  of  the  joyous 
and  exulting,  shrieks  of  the  suffering,  and 

"  Warbled  air, 

Whose  piercing  sweetness  can  unloose 
The  chains  of  frenzy,  or  entice  a  smile 
Into  the  ambush  of  despair  ; 
Hosannas  pealing  down  the  long-drawn  aisle, 
And  requiems  answered  by  the  pulse  that  beats 
Devoutly,  in  life's  last  retreats." 


i  « 


Sound,  a  Course  of  Eight  Lectures,"  etc.,  p.  324. 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  37 

It  is  an  argument  in  Natural  Theology  which 
the  Sacred  Writer  utters  when  he  exclaims  (Ps. 
94  :  91) :  "  He  that  planted  the  ear,  shall  He  not 
hear?  He  that  formed  the  eye,  shall  He  not 
see  ? '  Can  we  believe  that  the  Power  to  which 
the  ear  and  the  eye  owe  their  being  is  itself  not 
capable  of  seeing  and  hearing  ? 

It  is  sometimes  thought  that  the  argument  of 
design  is  invalidated  by  the  doctrine  of  Evolution. 
Evolution  This  impression  is  quite  erroneous.  Ev- 
and  design.  oiutiOn,  although  the  word  may  begin 
with  a  capital  letter,  is  not  a  person,  nor  is  it  an 
entity  of  any  sort.  It  denotes,  not  a  cause,  but 
only  a  method. 

Evolution  as  a  doctrine  respecting  nature  stands 

in  contrast  with  the  idea  of  special  acts  of  creation, 

Meaning  of  immediate  interpositions  of  power.     As 

evolution.     ft  theory  in  zoology,  it  signifies  that  what 

is  true  of  the  individuals  of  a  species,  is  equally 
true  of  species  themselves  in  relation  to  one  an- 
other. Their  connection  is  genetic.  They  arise 
Different  by  descent,  rather  than  by  particular 
luSonaryttie-  creative  acts.  One  class  of  evolutionists 
hold  that  the  origin  of  each  particular 
species  is  per  saltum;  that  is,  that  its  first  progeni- 
tors, with  all  their  distinguishing  characteristics, 
are  generated  at  once  from  a  preceding  species  ; 
new  sorts  of  animal  life,  once  originated,  having 


38  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

the  power  to  perpetuate  themselves.  Darwin's 
view,  on  the  contrary,  is  that  existing  varieties 
"Natural  Se-  °^  structure  among  animals  result  from 
very  slow  and  gradual  variations.  There 
is  a  tendency  to  slight  variations,  and  there  is 
a  force  of  heredity  by  which  variations  of  form, 
when  they  once  arise,  are  transmitted.  Those 
particular  variations  which  give  to  an  animal  an 
advantage  in  procuring  his  food  and  in  self-defence 
by  degrees  increase,  or  are  built  up,  through  the 
mating  of  animals  possessed  of  them.  By  a  mys- 
terious principle  of  "  correlation,"  the  remaining 
parts  of  the  animal  structures  so  modify  them- 
selves as  to  harmonize  with  the  particular  part  thus 
altered.  In  this  way,  it  is  conceived,  the  different 
types  and  kinds  of  animal  life,  in  the  course  of  long 
periods  of  time,  derive  their  existence.  They  are  all 

-so  Darwin  stated  in  his  earliest  work  on  the  sub- 
ject— descended  from  a  few  primitive  forms.  The 
method  by  which  certain  offspring  are  formed  and 
enabled  to  survive,  when  others  perish,  is  termed 
Natural  Selection.  By  Herbert  Spencer  this  meth- 
od of  Nature  is  termed  "  the  survival  of  the  fittest." 
It  is  plain  that,  if  the  Darwinian  theory  be  ac- 
cepted, it  does  not  avail  in  the  least  to  exclude 

Design  im-  the  evidences  of  design.     The  primitive 

Sarwinian  forms  of  animal  life,  which   contain   in 

them  potentially  all  the  forms  that  are 

to  spring  from  them,  require  to  be  accounted  for. 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  39 

No  reasonable  explanation  can  be  given  of  them 
except  that  they  are  the  product  of  a  preconceived 
purpose.  The  problem  of  origin  is  merely  shifted 
back.  Moreover,  we  have  to  take  account  of  the 
combined  action  of  heredity  and  of  that  tendency 
to  depart  from  it  which  is  called  variation.  When 
we  see  the  results  that  are  wrought  out  by  these 
agencies,  in  conjunction  with  that  unexplained 
agency  which  is  styled  correlation,  we  are  almost 
irresistibly  impressed  with  the  conviction  that  they 
are  the  instruments  of  plan  and  foresight.  They 
are  instruments  of  conscious  wisdom  and  power, 
or  modes  in  which  these  attributes  are  exerted  and 
manifested.  The  verv  term  "  Natural  Selection  " 

t/ 

indicates  as  much,  since  selection  is  the  function  of 
mind  and  will.  The  attempt  to  escape  this  implied 
adaptation  by  substituting  the  phrase  "  survival  of 
the  fittest '  costs  an  effort,  and  even  then  really 
fails  of  success.  The  "  fittest  "  is  that  which  has 
been  fitted  with  success  to  the  end  in  view. 

It  is  true  that  certain  naturalists  assume  a  bound- 
less, hap-hazard  variation  as  providing  the  mate- 
rials which  are  furnished  for  the  exercise 

The      out- 
come proves  of  natural  selection.     They  assume  num- 

design.  •f 

beiiess  abortive  forms  of  animal  life 
which  disappear,  leaving  only  a  limited  number  of 
survivors.  But  who  does  not  see  that  what  is 
called  "  accident "  can  have  no  place  in  a  sphere 
where  it  is  confessed  on  all  hands  that  necessity 


40  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

reigns  ?  At  one  end  of  the  line  there  is  a  certain 
constitution  of  things,  certain  laws  and  tendencies. 
At  the  other  there  is  the  orderly  system,  the  object 
of  science.  Be  the  intermediate  steps  what  they 
may ;  grant  that  there  is  an  intermediate  interval 
of  chaos  and  confusion,  adaptation  is  proved.  But 
this  hypothesis  of  a  "  chance-variation  "  is  not  veri- 
fied by  scientific  observation.  The  chances  are  in- 
finite against  the  likelihood  of  the  building  up  of 
the  species  of  animal  life  on  such  a  basis.  There 
are  laws  of  variation.  Limitations  are  set  around 
it.  We  repeat,  however,  that,  whatever  speculations 
may  be  advanced  on  these  points,  it  is  undeniable 
that  the  animal  kingdom,  as  we. now  behold  it,  is 
the  effect  of  a  combination  of  causes  or  antece- 
dents tending  to  this  result,  and  to  this  result 
alone.  The  inference  of  design,  operative  from  the 
beginning,  is  therefore  legitimate. 

But  there  is  a  broader  form  of  evolutionary  doc- 
trine which  may  be   considered  here.     It  has  not 
been  shown  from  observation  or  experi- 

The  broftd- 

est  theory  of  ment  that  life  can  be  produced  from  that 
which  is  lifeless.  Nevertheless  there  are 
those  who  hold  that  there  is  no  break  at  this  point 
in  the  course  of  development.  There  is  an  opinion 
that  all  things  spring  out  of  a  primitive  world  of 
atoms,  the  ultimate  constituents  of  matter,  and 
that  through  the  motions  and  combinations  of 
atoms,  in  incalculable  periods  of  time,  with  no  in- 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  41 

tervention  from  without,  all  things  have  come  to  be. 

This  was  an  ancient  opinion.     It  is  set  forth  by 

the  Roman  poet,  Lucretius,  a  disciple  of 

T  11  c*i*oi"i  11  ^ 

the  Epicurean  school.  He  supposes  that 
as  a  consequence  of  the  commotion  and  concussion 
of  atoms,  after  an  almost  endless  series  of  unstable 
results,  a  combination  was  reached  that  was  capa- 
ble of  abiding.  This  theory  is  thus  expressed  : 

"  For  never,  doubtless,  by  the  thought  of  each, 
Or  mutual  compact,  could  elements  distinct 
First  harmonize,  then  move  in  ways  denned. 
But  ever  changing,  ever  changed,  and  vext 
From  earliest  time,  through  ages  infinite, 
With  ceaseless  repercussion,  every  mode 
Of  motion,  magnitude  and  shape  essayed  : 
At  length  together  tliey  assumed  the  form 
Of  things  created."1 

The  same  theory  has  been  broached,  with  some 
modifications,  by  certain  modern  writers.  The 
Lucretian  theory  attributes  the  world  to 
"  chance."  We  use  this  word  to  denote 
an  occurrence,  or  an  object,  the  particular  cause  of 
which  is  not  detected,  and  which  bears  in  it  no 
evident  marks  of  forethought.  We  apply  the  word, 
for  example,  to  the  result  of  a  throw  of  dice.  I  drop 
a  handful  of  coins  on  the  floor.  They  fly  in  differ- 
ent directions,  and  they  fly  in  different  directions, 
we  say,  as  "  chance  "  directs.  On  the  theory  which 

1  De  Rerum  Xatura,  I.,   1021-1028. 


42  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

we  are  considering  the  world  is  accounted  for  as  the 
final  result  of  what  is  equivalent  to  an  almost  in- 
finite succession  of  throws  of  dice.  This  can  not  be 
said  to  be  literally  impossible,  as  it  is  not  literally 
impossible  that  a  font  of  types  thrown  into  the  air 
should  come  down  in  the  form  of  Homer's  Iliad. 
It  is,  however,  so  unlikely  an  occurrence  as  to  be 
next  to  impossible.  Imagine  time  to  be 
D6upposedrc  given  for  the  repetition  of  the  experi- 
ment billions  of  times — the  unlikelihood 
of  the  issue  is  not  perceptibly  diminished.  Cicero, 
commenting  on  this  theory  of  the  Epicureans, 
after  speaking  of  the  vast  orderly  system  of  things 
beheld  above  us  and  around  us,  exclaims  :  "  Is  it 
possible  for  any  man  to  behold  these  things,  and 
yet  imagine  that  certain  solid  and  individual  bodies 
move  by  their  natural  force  and  gravitation  and 
that  a  world  so  beautifully  adorned  was  made  by 
their  fortuitous  concourse  ?  He  who  believes  this 
may  as  well  believe  that  if  a  great  quantity  of  the 
one-and-twenty  letters  '  -the  number  of  the  letters 
in  the  Roman  alphabet — "  composed  of  gold  or  of 
any  other  matter,  were  thrown  upon  the  ground 
they  would  fall  into  such  order  as  legibly  to  form 
the  Annals  of  Ennius  ?  .  .  .  If  a  concourse 
of  atoms  can  make  a  world,  why  not  a  porch, 
a  temple,  a  house,  a  city,  which  are  works  of 
less  labor  and  difficulty  ?  '  But  assume  that  the 

1  De  Nat.  Deorum,  II.,  37. 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  43 

existing  world  was  once  a  chaos  of  atoms.  Why 
did  all  the  prior  combinations  of  atoms  fail  ?  Why 
did  the  numberless  forms  of  motion  and  associ- 
ation prove  unstable  ?  Manifestly  because  the 
multitudinous  atoms  were  adapted  exclusively  to 
that  final  form  of  combination  in  which  order  and 
stability  are  united.  We  have  still  another  in- 
stance of  the  carrying  back  of  design  ;  but  from 
design  there  is  no  escape. 

The  students  of  physical  science  at  the  present 
day  as  a  class  are  far  from  holding  to  this  precise 
theory  of  the  origin  of  things.  Yet  physical  science 
rests  upon  the  hypothesis  of  the  atomic  constitu- 
tion of  matter.  We  are  carried  back  in  physical 
investigation  to  a  world  of  indivisible  particles 
which  are  combined  into  molecules.  What  beneath 
the  world  of  atoms  there  may  be,  we  cannot  tell. 
We  can  explore  no  farther.  But  we  say  again  that 
the  world  of  atoms  bears  witness  to  design  as  truly 
and  in  the  same  degree  as  the  whole  structure 
of  things  that  spring  from  it.  Sir  John  Her- 
schel  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  the  atoms,  the 
primitive  elements  of  which  material  nature  is  com- 
posed, have  all  the  appearance  of  being  "  manufac- 
tured articles."  "  The  more  purely  a  mechanist 
the  speculator  is,"  says  Professor  Huxley,  "  the 
more  firmly  does  he  assume  primordial  molecular 
arrangement,  of  which  all  the  phenomena  of  the 
universe  are  consequences,  the  more  completely  is 


44  NATURAL   THEOLOG7 

he  thereby  at  the  mercy  of  the  teleologist,  who 
can  always  defy  him  to  prove  that  this  primordial 
molecular  arrangement  was  not  intended  to  evolve 
the  phenomena  of  the  universe."  But  the  teleol- 
ogist can  go  farther  than  to  defend  himself  against 
his  assailant ;  he  can  overthrow  him  by  a  simple 
appeal  to  the  competent,  unperverted  judgment  of 
mankind,  or  the  voice  of  common  sense,  which 
recognizes  and  affirms  design. 

We  have  spoken  of  the  eye  as  elaborated  in  the 

dark,  and  likewise  of  the  ear  as  formed  where  the 

air  has  no  access.     On  the  grounds  of 

Evolution  .  ° 

oftheeyeand  evolutionary  theory  it  is  omected  that 

the   ear   pre- 
supposes de-  this  is  not  true   of  the  rudimental  eye 

sign.  » 

and  ear.  We  are  told  that  the  begin- 
nings of  the  eye  are  produced  by  the  impact  of 
rays  of  light  upon  protoplasm.  By  protoplasm  is 
meant  the  lowest  form  of  living  matter  which  is 
not  differentiated  into  organs.  Because  it  is  liv- 
ing, although  it  can  be  analyzed  chemically  and 
its  component  inorganic  elements  ascertained,  the 
analysis  kills  it.  Now  it  is  said  that  the  contact 
of  light  with  the  jelly-like  substance  called  proto- 
plasm excites  in  it  a  feeling  which  centres  in  a 
certain  spot,  that  there  differentiation  begins  and 
the  faint  starting-point  of  the  eye  appears.  The 
impact  of  air  elsewhere  on  the  protoplastic  mass 
produces  the  "  rudimentary  point  "  of  the  organ  of 

1  "Critiques,''  p.  347. 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  45 

hearing.  New  differentiations,  each  in  its  own 
line,  follow  under  like  conditions.  They  are 
transmitted  by  the  law  of  heredity.  At  last  the 
perfected  organs,  as  they  are  found  in  man,  ap- 
pear. If  these  statements  could  be  verified  as 
facts  of  natural  history,  they  would  be  powerless 
to  disprove  design.  It  is  obvious  that  the  rudi- 
ments of  the  optical  and  the  auditory  nerves  could 
not  arise  unless  there  were  a  response,  and  a  re- 
sponse in  these  several  forms,  within  the  mass  of 
protoplasm,  to  the  impact  of  the  light  and  the  air. 
It  is  absurd  to  say  that  the  waves  of  light  create 
the  eye,  or  that  the  undulations  of  the  air  create 
the  ear.  The  most  that  the  light  and  the  air  can 
be  imagined  to  do  is  to  evoke  activities  that  slum- 
ber in  the  protoplasm.  The  germinant  agencies 
are  there,  as  truly  as  in  the  plant  kingdom  the  life, 
and  the  form  which  the  life  will  take,  are  in  the 
germs  that  are  developed  under  the  influence  of 
the  sunshine  and  the  rain. 

If  evolutionary  doctrines  have  raised  difficulties 
in  Natural  Theology  they  have  given  to  the  argu- 
ment of  design  a  more  impressive  force. 

The  design    T ,  .  ,  ,    , , 

argument  It  remains  to  be  proved  that  a  new  m- 

strengthene  d  ,,      , .    .  ,          - 

by  Evolution-  crement  or  divine  energy,  introduced 
into  the  ordinary  flow  of  development, 
is  not  to  be  assumed  at  certain  points  in  its  prog- 
ress ;  for  example,  in  the  bringing  of  life  into  the 
realm  of  inorganic  substances,  and  in  the  origin 


46  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

of  man,  at  least  as  regards  his  rational  powers. 
But  however  this  may  be,  natural  science  at  the 
present  clay  holds  up  to  view  the  spectacle  of  a 
steady,  orderly  succession,  rising,  step  after  step, 
until  at  the  summit  of  the  series  we  arrive  at  man. 
The  system  culminates  in  him.  Nature  is  seen  to 
be  pointing  upward  to  him,  and  working  toward 
him.  The  idea  of  man  is  the  preconception  at  the 
basis  of  the  whole  movement. 

It  is  in  living  organisms  that  the  marks  of  fore- 
thought and  selection  strike  the  beholder  with 
Design  mos^  f orce.  In  an  organism  every  part 
?nnimng0oi>  *s  both,  nieans  and  end.  The  very  term 
"  part "  is  hardly  proper  in  reference  to 
a  system  which  is  animated  by  a  single  life.  The 
nature  of  an  organism,  and,  at  the  same  time,  the 
highest  example,  may  be  seen  in  the  human  body. 
Its  members  are  "  members  one  of  another."  Thus, 
the  skin  which  covers  it  is  indispensable  to  its  life 
and  health,  and  is  ever  conducing  to  this  end.  Yet 
the  organism  as  a  whole  is  perpetually  at  work  in 
weaving  this  covering  for  itself.  Let  a  burn  de- 
stroy a  part  of  it,  and  the  entire  system  instantly 
sets  to  work  to  repair  the  loss.  Unless  the  extent 
of  the  loss  is  excessive  it  accomplishes  the  task. 
When  the  task  is  too  great,  it  dies  in  the  attempt. 
The  impression  of  design,  made  by  the  human  or- 
ganism as  a  whole,  is  more  and  more  deepened  as 
we  study  its  various  organs,  one  by  one.  "\Vo  luive 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  47 

already  considered  the  structure  of  the  eye  and  of 
the  ear  as  they  are  related  to  their  respective  func- 
tions. The  study  of  the  apparatus  of  digestion, 
or  of  respiration,  or  of  circulation,  when  the  stu- 
dent does  not  try  to  speculate  himself  out  of  the 
natural  impression  which  these  wonderful  arrange- 
ments make  upon  the  mind,  inspires  anew  the  con- 
viction that  they  were  planned  beforehand. 

The  study  of  comparative  anatomy  constantly 
reveals  the  design  which    is  presupposed  in  the 
Design  adaptations  of  animals  to  their  environ- 


ment-  Their  instruments  of  motion, 
their  instruments  for  procuring  food, 
their  weapons  for  attack  and  defence,  their  organs 
for  producing  and  feeding  their  young,  are  varied 
in  striking  and  evidently  ingenious  ways  to  suit 
the  element  in  which  they  live.  If  it  be  said  that 
all  these  multiform  variations  of  structure  are  them- 
selves the  effect  of  circumstances,  the  answer,  as 
before,  is,  that  unless  a  prior  susceptibility  and  ca- 
pacity of  being  thus  shaped  and  directed  inhered 
in  the  matter,  be  its  form  what  it  may,  on  which 
environment  is  brought  to  bear,  the  phenomena 
in  question  could  never  arise.  The  proof  of  de- 
sign remains  in  its  full  strength. 

The  beauty  which  is  spread  through  nature  is  a 
manifestation  of  design.  The  tints  of  the  flowers 
and  the  bright,  variegated  plumage  of  the  birds 
display  an  artistic  hand.  Beyond  what  is  requis- 


48  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

ite  for  what  may  be  termed  practical  necessaries 
and  uses,  there  are  provisions  for  securing  charms 

Beaut  and  °^  ^orm  an(^  color.  Who  can  look  at  that 
naS^prove  mrracle  °^  delicate  art,  an  orchid  blos- 
som, and  not  be  struck  with  the  feeling 
that  contrivance  and  matchless  taste  are  concerned 
in  its  origin?  The  same  inference  follows  from 
the  sublime  in  nature.  If  the  groined  arch  of  the 
cathedral  is  uplifting,  much  more  the  majestic 
dome  of  the  sky.  It  does  not  avail  to  say  that 
these  impressions  of  the  beautiful  and  sublime  are 
subjective,  that  they  are  dependent  on  the  struct- 
ure of  our  faculties.  Hold  what  theory  respecting 
beauty  one  may,  it  remains  true  that  there  is  a 
wonderful  adaptation  in  the  external  world  to  our 
aesthetic  nature. 

Before  illustrating  further  the  argument  of  de- 
sign, we  choose  this  place  to  notice  a  not  uiii're- 

objection  quent  objection  which  is  made  against  it. 
era™  on  I  °ot  It  is  said  that  in  the  operations  of  iii- 
tSe'growthof  stinct  in  the  lower  animals,  and  even  in 
the  plant  kingdom,  we  have  examples 
which  are  quite  analogous  to  the  effects  of  selection 
and  combination,  and  yet  are  obviously  not  the 
fruit  of  design.  The  flight  of  migratory  birds  by 
straight  pathways  from  one  region  to  another,  the 
architecture  shown  in  the  habitation  which  the 
beaver  constructs  for  itself,  the  skill  observed  in 
the  doings  of  a  swarm  of  bees,  are  only  a  few 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  49 

among  instances  innumerable  where  instinct  imi- 
tates and  may  often  surpass  the  achievements  of 
human  contrivance.  The  clusters  of  fruit  upon  a 
grapevine,  and  fair  blossoms,  like  the  rose,  may 
remind  us  that  the  unconscious  life  of  the  plant 
generates  products  which  the  art  of  man  cannot 
rival.  Why  not,  then,  attribute  all  things  that  are 
taken  to  indicate  design  in  the  world  to  uncon- 
scious, unreflecting  agency,  operating  after  the 
manner  of  plant  life  or  animal  instinct  ?  The  an- 
swer to  this  question  should  readily  suggest  itself. 
Just  for  the  reason  that  the  products  of  instinct 
spring  from  an  impulse  in  the  animal,  which  in- 
volves in  it  no  preconception,  we  are  driven  to 
presuppose  a  designing  mind  that  planted  the  in- 
stinct and  guides  it  to  its  goal.  Without  this  sup- 
position, we  have  a  cause  that  is  plainly  not  com- 
mensurate with  its  effect.  We  have  works  that 
bear  on  them  the  characteristic  mark  of  reason 
where  reason  is  absent  from  the  cause.  The  same 
answer  is  to  be  rendered  to  the  suggestion  that  the 
wonders  of  the  vegetable  kingdom  are  explained 
when  they  are  referred  exclusively  to  causes  void 
of  consciousness  and  will. 

There  is  no  one  of  the  sciences  which  does  not 
afford  striking  illustrations  of  design.1     In  rnathe- 

1  This  topic  is  treated  by  Porter  in  his  ''Human  Intellect," 
p.  607.     There  are  interesting  remarks  on  the  subject  in  Flint's 
"Theism,"  p.  367  seq. 
4 


50  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

matics  many  formulas  have  been  devised,  and  prob- 
lems proposed  and  solved  which  have  been  after- 
wards found  to  hold  good — to  have  been 

The    S  c  i  - 

ences  iiius-  anticipated — in  the  constitution  of  nat- 

trate  design. 

ure.  Astronomy,  in  the  relations  and 
motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  has  irresistibly 
impelled  the  greatest  masters  in  this  branch  of 
science,  to  discern  the  power  and  wisdom  of  God 
in  the  starry  system.  Kepler  could  not  resist  the 
conviction  that  in  discovering  the  astronomic  laws 
he  was  rethinking  the  thoughts  of  God.  The 
laws  of  modern  chemistry  bear  the  same  testimony 
to  the  presence  and  agency  of  a  Supreme  Intelli- 
gence. The  list  of  adaptations  in  water  alone, 
through  its  abundance,  the  adjustments  of  its 
specific  gravity,  its  power  of  being  converted  into 
vapor,  condensed  into  rain,  and  changed  into 
steam,  its  relations  to  heat  and  cold,  its  agency  as 
an  almost  universal  solvent,  its  mechanical  capac- 
ities by  which  it  can  corrode  the  rocks  and  circu- 
late in  the  rose-leaf  and  through  the  lungs  of  man 
-this  list  forms  of  itself  an  instructive  chapter.1 
Geology  has  unfolded  a  plan  and  order  of  develop- 
ment in  the  progress  of  the  earth  itself  and  of  the 
successive  orders  of  its  inhabitants  up  to  man. 
Geography,  as  taught  by  its  most  eminent  teachers, 
as  Karl  Bitter,  has  pointed  out  in  the  physical  feat- 

1  See  Professor  J.    P.    Cooke's    "  Keligion  and  Chemistry," 
Lecture  V.  (New  York,  18G4). 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  51 

ures  of  the  globe,  and  in  its  relation  to  the  races 
that  have  dwelt  upon  the  different  portions  of  it, 
impressive  indications  of  a  divine  plan  for  the  rise 
and  spread  of  civilization.  The  history  of  man- 
kind displays  a  guiding  and  overruling  providence 
which  it  would  seem  almost  impossible  for  an  at- 
tentive student  to  fail  to  discern. 

The   provisions   incorporated   in  nature,  which 
have   relation  to  man  as  a  social  being,  lead  the 
mind  by  an  almost  irresistible  attraction 

Design    m  «/ 


f  oVTuman  *°  ^ie  recognition  of  a  divine  wisdom  as 


society.  ^}ie  orQv  reasonable  explanation  of  their 
origin.  We  might  refer  to  language,  and  to  the 
physical  apparatus  and  mental  faculties  which 
give  rise  to  its  beginnings  and  growth.  By  in- 
scrutable agencies  in  Nature  the  sexes  are  in  a 
certain  proportion  to  one  another,  a  proportion 
which  varies  within  narrow  limits.  The  sexes  are 
pretty  nearly  equal  in  number.  Foundations  are 
laid  in  Nature  for  the  marriage  relation, 
and  thus  for  the  origination  of  the 
family.  The  impression  of  wonder  which  is 
made  by  a  new-born  child,  by  its  physical  structure 
and  its  instincts  and  aptitudes,  falls  little  short  of 
that  produced  by  a  miracle.  Through  the  institu- 
tion of  the  family  a  basis  is  provided  for  a  larger 
community,  the  state.  The  family  is 

The   state 

fitted   to   be   a  school  for  discipline   in 
obedience,  loyalty,  and  self-sacrifice  for  the  sake 


52  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

of  others.  It  is  a  school  to  qualify  the  members 
of  the  household  for  citizenship.  Through  the 
family  and  the  state  conceptions  are  awakened 
and  feelings  are  nurtured  which  appear  designed 
to  serve  as  an  education  for  a  society  of  wider 
compass,  even  for  a  kingdom  of  which 
God  is  the  Father  and  Sovereign. 
Looking  at  these  relations  in  which  man  is 
placed,  we  see  in  them,  regarded  by  themselves, 
the  clearest  evidences  of  design.  They  bring  God 
before  us.  This  effect  is  deepened  when  we  dis- 
cern the  way  in  which  they  prepare  human  beings 
for  his  service. 

We  have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
world  is  an  effect  of  divine  power,  the  product  of 
God's  intelligent,  voluntary  agency.  What  is  the 
Extent  of  extent  of  the  power  thus  revealed  ?  Are 
Divine  power.  we  justified  in  pronouncing  him,  in  strict 
speech,  almighty  ?  It  is  urged  that,  however  vast 
is  the  power  required  for  the  effects  of  which  we 
are  made  aware  by  the  wide-reaching  evidences  of 
design,  we  are  only  authorized  to  assume  an 
amount  of  power  adequate  to  obtain  the  actual 
result.  As  the  world  is  finite,  it  is  said  that  only 
a  finite  measure  of  power  is  demanded  to  account 
for  it.  But  it  is  manifestly  fallacious  to  conclude 
that  the  power  of  God  is  exhausted  by  the  outlay 
of  it  in  Nature.  Even  as  regards  human  beings 
to  whom  in  a  qualified  sense  we  ascribe  creative 


THE  ARGUMENT  OF  DESIGN  53 

power,  we  do  not  conceive  of  their  resources  as 
entirely  expended  in  the  works  which  they  actu- 
ally produce.  The  chisel  of  Michael  Angelo  did 
not  do  everything  that  it  was  capable  of  doing. 
It  is  a  characteristic  of  the  writings  of  Shakespere 
that  they  evidently  spring  from  a  genius  that  is 
well-nigh  inexhaustible.  Again,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  actual  constitution  of  the  world 
is  a  result  of  choice.  We  are  not  to  imagine  that 
no  other  or  different  world  was  possible  to  the  Di- 
vine Being.  It  is  a  case  where  there  was  an  exer- 
cise of  will  and  preference  among  different  possibil- 
ities. The  power  that  is  implied  in  the  existence 
of  the  actual  world,  to  one  who  contemplates  its  in- 
definite vastness  and  the  inconceivable  variety  of 
its  constituent  parts,  is  felt  to  be  immeasurable. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  believe  that  it  is  literally 
without  limit.  But  the  premises  in  strict  logic  do 
not  compel  to  this  conclusion.  Our  conviction  on 
this  point  rests  on  other  grounds.  What  has  just 
been  remarked  respecting  the  omnipotence  of  God 
is  applicable  also  to  the  question  of  His  omni- 
science. 

The  evidence  for  the  unity  of  God  which  has 
already  been  adduced  is  corroborated  by  the  argu- 
The  unity  men^  °f  design.      If   Dualism,  the   as- 
sumption of  two  eternal  powers  dividing 
between  them  the  work  of  creation,  ever  had  any 
plausible    support,    that     support    has    vanished 


54  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

through  the  progress  of  science.  Nature  not  only 
exhibits  design  ;  it  is  comprehended  in  one  vast 
network  of  design.  To  the  anatomist,  the  most 
ungainly  and  repulsive  animals  are  links  in  a  zo- 
ological system  and  essential  to  its  symmetry. 
The  animal  creation  requires  the  vegetable  as  an 
indispensable  condition  of  its  being,  and  both 
these  kingdoms  presuppose  and  involve  the  entire 
realm  of  things  below  them.  Optical  discoveries 
prove  that  the  distant  suns  and  constellations  are 
homogeneous  with  the  earth.  God  is  known  to  be 
one,  because  Nature  is  one. 

Convincing  as  the  argument  of  design  must 
be  admitted  to  be,  the  question  may  be  raised 
whether  it  contains  the  proof  that  Nature  is  cre- 
ated outright,  or  absolutelv  from  noth- 

O          '  •/ 


Does    d  e  - 


JJUGS      u  e  -      «  »  .-•..,,. 

sign  prove  ing.  Are  we  warranted  in  interring 
more  than  that  the  raw  material,  so  to 
speak,  of  material  Nature  has  been  moulded  and 
shaped  by  divine  power  and  wisdom  ?  May  not 
matter  itself  be  co-eternal  with  the  divine  Being  ? 
In  reply  to  this  question  it  is  to  be  remarked  that 
the  properties  of  matter  are  inseparable  from  mat- 
ter itself.  Whatever  matter  may  be,  its  properties 
belong  to  its  very  being.  Now  it  is  in  these  prop- 
erties that  there  lies  the  capacity  of  being  moulded 
and  shaped  into  the  forms  that  bespeak  intelli- 
gence. This  capacity  is  equivalent  to  an  adapted- 
ness  which  implies  design.  Therefore  matter  it- 


THE  ARQ  UMENT  OF  DESIGN  55 

self  must  be  referred  to  God  as  the  Creator.  It 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  God  is  not  to  be  con- 
ceived of  as  working  upon  Nature  from  without. 
He  is  immanent  in  Nature.  His  power  is  exerted 
from  within.  Man's  works  are  upon  Nature  from 
without.  He  takes  existing  materials  and  laws, 
and  bends  them,  as  far  as  it  is  possible,  to  his  uses. 
A  like  conception  of  God  in  relation  to  Nature  is 
not  Theism,  but  Deism.  The  theistic  conception 
is  of  a  God  who,  while  he  is  transcendent  and  per- 
sonal, dwells  in  Nature  and  makes  himself  mani- 
fest in  its  laws  and  phenomena.  This  conception 
carries  in  it  the  conception  of  him  as  a  creator, 
not  as  a  manufacturer. 


CHAPTEE  IY. 

THE   MOKAL   ARGUMENT 

THE  moral  argument  for  Theism  is  derived  from 
the  consideration  of  the  free  and  responsible  nat- 
ure of  man.  That  we  are  endowed  with  such  a 
nature  is  verified  by  the  consciousness  and  com- 
mon sense  of  mankind. 

By  the  freedom  of  the  will  we  mean  that  in  the 

act  of  choice  the  will  is  exempt  from  any  constraint, 

whether  from  without  or  within.     The 

The     free- 

dom  of  the  states  of  mind  that  precede  the  voluntary 
act  do  not  necessitate  it.  There  is  an 
alternative  which  is  open  to  selection.  The  mind 
in  the  act  of  choice  is  not  shut  up  to  the  prefer- 
ence which  it  actually  exercises.  It  is  an  elective 
preference.  In  this  meaning  of  the  terms  there 
is  a  self-determination.  Here  is  a  radical  distinc- 
tion between  the  mind,  as  far  as  this  mode  of  its 
activity  is  concerned,  and  all  motion  and  change 
in  the  material  sphere.  In  nature  without,  there 
is  nothing  analogous  to  self-motion.  It  is  true 
that  in  the  case  of  choice  there  are  motives, 
otherwise  there  would  be  nothing  to  choose.  But 


THE  MORAL  ARGUMENT  57 

the  motives  do  not  coerce.  The  rival  object  might 
have  been  chosen.  The  competing  course  might 
have  been  preferred. 

The  freedom  of  the  will  is  a  fact  of  conscious- 

ness.    When  we  put  forth  an  act  of  choice,  we 

Evidence  know   that    we   are   possessed    of   this 

domhoffISe  liberty.     Looking    back    upon    the    act 

after  it  was  performed,  we  know  that 
we  could  have  chosen  otherwise.  The  existence 
of  such  a  liberty  of  will  is  presupposed  in  the 
language  and  common  conduct  of  mankind.  It  is 
assumed  in  the  laws,  and  institutions,  and  all  the 
intercourse  of  society.  It  is  implied  in  self  -ap- 
proval and  self-reproach,  and  in  the  praise  and 
blame  which  men  attach  to  one  another. 

It  is  sometimes  maintained  that  the  direction 
of  the  will  in  the  act  of  choice  is  really  the   effect 

of  causal  antecedents,  which  are  thought 
cult  causes  of  to  be  absent  merely  because  they  are 


occult  and  unperceived.  This  allegation 
is  a  bare  assertion  which  there  is  no  adequate 
evidence  to  sustain.  It  brands  as  illusive  the  tes- 
timony of  consciousness,  and  contradicts  our  self- 
judgments  as  well  as  our  judgments  of  one  an- 
other. 

It  is  contended,  also,  by  necessarians  that  the 
doctrine  of  the  liberty  of  the  will  is  inconsistent 
with  the  maxim  that  nothing  can  occur  without  a 
cause.  But  in  the  case  of  a  choice,  the  will  is  it- 


58  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

self  the  cause.     It  is  not  an  instance  of  an  occur- 

rence without   an   exertion  of   power  involved  in 

it.     There  is,  to  be  sure,  a  qualification 

freedom    to  of  the  maxim  just  referred  to.     There  is 

causation.  ,  -,       <.  ,. 

no  such  control  01  causation  as  exists 
in  the  material  world  and  in  relation  to  mental 
activities  which  are  involuntary.  The  will  is  not 
confined  to  one  direction  in  its  action.  In  this 
particular,  it  is  not  subject  to  the  constraining  ac- 
tion of  the  law  of  cause  and  effect.  Herein  its  lib- 
erty consists.  This  is  the  meaning  of  it. 

It  is  objected,  again,  that  the  doctrine  of  the 
freedom  of  the  will  is  incompatible  with  that  uni- 

formity which,  it  is  affirmed,  is  observed 
f  in  men's  choices.     It  is  said  that,  know- 


choices.          .        1  1    •  1^1       •  i   J.T 

ing  their  mental  tendencies   and  their 

circumstances,  we  can  predict  in  a  great  many 
cases  what  their  ,  voluntary  action  will  be.  It  is 
argued  that  if  we  could  completely  discern  "  the 
springs  of  action,"  we  should  probably  be  able  to 
foretell  choices  as  correctly  as  eclipses  are  foretold 
by  astronomers.  In  affirmations  of  this  kind  it  is 
overlooked  that  multitudes  of  volitions  are  put 
forth  simply  to  carry  out  underlying  choices 
which  are  freely  originated,  and  which  abide  and 
are  silently  active  in  the  mind.  Understanding 
that  your  friend  has  resolved  to  take  a  walk  to  the 
post-office,  you  can  of  course  foresee  that  he  will 
put  forth  the  numerous  voluntary  acts  which  are 


THE  MORAL  ARGUMENT  59 

involved  in  the  execution  of  the  purpose.  This 
simple  illustration  will  serve  to  explain  the  opera- 
tion of  habit  in  the  countless  instances  when  habit 
is  voluntary  in  its  origin,  and  not  only  in  its  ori- 
gin but  also  in  its  continuance.  If  one  has  "  made 
up  his  mind  "  to  a  given  course  of  conduct,  pro- 
vided he  does  not  reverse  this  generic  purpose,  it 
is  quite  possible  to  predict  a  host  of  volitions 
which  he  will  put  forth  in  consequence.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  conclude  from  uniformity  in  the  action 
of  a  person's  will  under  given  circumstances,  that 
the  will  is  not  free  in  the  sense  we  have  denned. 
If  your  friend  chooses  a  direct  instead  of  a  cir- 
cuitous path  to  the  post-office,  it  does  not  prove 
that  he  could  not  have  chosen  to  take  the  longer 
way.  The  will  is  not  the  less  free  in  its  action  be- 
cause that  action,  under  a  certain  set  of  circum- 
stances, is  constant.  Nay,  if  uniformity  in  volun- 
tary action  had  no  exceptions,  if  it  were  always 
true  that  the  will  in  the  same  combination  of  cir- 
cumstances, internal  and  external,  would  always 
choose  in  the  same  way,  the  doctrine  of  necessity 
would  not  thereby  be  established. 

These  remarks  suggest  the  answer  to  an  argu- 
ment against  freedom  which  is  sometimes  deduced 
from  statistics  of  crime  or  of  other  social  events 
and  characteristics.  That  a  community  should 
have  certain  traits  at  a  given  time,  and  that  an 
approximative  calculation  should  be  possible  as  to 


60  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

the  percentage  of  incidents  of  one  sort  or  another 
that  will  occur  in  it,  does  not  disprove  the  liberty 
of  the  will.  The  persistency  of  qualities  of  char- 
acter is  quite  compatible  with,  their  yoluntariness. 
But,  now  and  then,  a  shock  will  be  given  to  statis- 
tical prediction.  The  Wesleyan  reformation  in 
England  produced  a  remarkable  diminution  of 
crime  and  vice,  and  of  the  poverty  consequent 
upon  them.  A  great  moral  revolution  conies  in  to 
overthrow  arithmetical  prophecies. 

But  while  man  is  free,  he  is  equally  conscious  of 
being  subject  to  a  law,  not  of  his  own  making.     It 
is  a  law  written  on  the  heart.     In  par- 
subjection  to  ticular  decisions  as  to  where  the  path  of 

moral  law.          .. 

duty  lies  we  may  be  contused  and  mis- 
led by  ignorance  and  bias,  but  the  feeling  of  obliga- 
tion to  do  that  which  is  felt  to  be  right  is  impera- 
tive. This  imperative  character — the  feeling  that 
"  I  ought,"  that  "  I  must "  whether  I  desire  it  or 
not,  the  alternative  being  disobedience  to  a  holy 
voice  heard  in  the  sanctuary  of  the  soul — this  it  is 
that  stamps  upon  conscience  its  unique  quality. 
There  are  those  who  would  account  for  the  pecu- 
liarity of  the  sense  of  obligation  by  mak- 

Conscience  . .    . ,          ^  f  .  .  ., 

not  a  foun  of  1111$  it  the  enect  oi  a  perception  ot  conse- 

self-love.  .      , 

quences  in  happiness  or  unluippmess,  the 
element  of  right  as  something  distinct  not  exist- 
ing. It  being  once  learned  that  one  sort  of  con- 
duct brings  after  it  suffering,  flowing,  in  part  at 


THE  MORAL  ARGUMENT  61 

least,  from  the  disfavor  of  others,  and  that  another 
sort  of  conduct  has  the  opposite  result,  men  feel 
impelled  in  the  one  direction,  and  deterred  from 
the  other.  This  feeling  of  attraction  and  repug- 
nance is  conceived  to  be  transmitted  by  descent  in 
the  form  of  an  inner  impulsion,  while  its  origin 
is  forgotten.  This  mode  of  explaining  the  feel- 
ings of  conscience  fails  to  account  for  the  dis- 
tinguishing elements  in  our  moral  experience. 
Why  am  I  bound  to  seek  for  happiness  ?  If  I  am 
not  so  bound,  how  account  for  the  conviction  that 
I  am  ?  If  this  conviction  is  illusive,  then  on  the 
discovery  of  the  fact  the  feeling  of  obligation  van- 
ishes. Righteousness  is  identified  with  prudence 
-  a  prudence  that  has  no  authoritative  basis. 
Duty  is  resolved  into  expediency.  The  sense  of 
baseness  differs  radically  from  the  sense  of  being 
in  a  low  condition  without  moral  fault.  Remorse 
is  utterly  distinct  from  mere  regret.  The  sense  of 
shame  on  account  of  an  unworthy  action  is  incap- 
able of  being  confounded  with  any  feeling  of  hu- 
miliation that  is  void  of  this  essential  ingredient. 
No  theory  of  the  genesis  of  conscience  is  admis- 
sible which  destroys  the  object  that  it  would  ana- 
lyze and  trace  to  its  origin.  To  surrender  or  to  al- 
low to  be  weakened,  in  deference  to  any  speculation, 
the  healthy  sense  of  obligation  and  responsibility 
is  more  than  an  intellectual  mistake  :  it  is  immoral. 
It  carries  with  it  a  degradation  of  character. 


62  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

Through  the  operations  of  conscience  we  discern 
that  we  are  subject  to  a  righteous  lawgiver  who 
conscious-   rewards  and  punishes.     We  are  brought 
?iegShte°ofus  into  contact  with  the  moral  attributes  of 
the  Being  in  whom  we  live  and  move. 
There  is  within  us  an  immediate,  undeniable  tes- 
timony to  his  holiness  and  righteousness. 

Moreover,   as  the  moral  nature  of  man  is  de- 
veloped and  enlightened,  we  arrive  at  the   clear 
perception  that  benevolence  is  the  sub- 

The  benev-    -1 

oienceof  God  stance  of  the  law  which  conscience  im- 

mferrecl. 

poses  upon  us.  The  character  of  the 
Creator  and  Ruler  is  made  known  as  benevolent, 
as  well  as  holy  and  righteous,.  He  is  thus  recog- 
nized as  the  impersonation  of  Holy  Love. 

Substantially  the  same  argument  is  put  in  a  dif- 
ferent form  by  Thomas  Erskine,  of  Linlathen,  who 
writes  thus  :  "  When  I  attentively  consider  what  is 
going  on  in  my  conscience,  the  chief  thing  forced 
on  my  notice  is,  that  I  find  myself  face  to  face  with  a 
purpose — not  my  own,  for  I  am  often  conscious  of 
resisting  it — but  which  dominates  me  and  makes 
itself  felt  as  ever  present,  as  the  very  root  and  rea- 
son of  my  being.  .  .  .  This  consciousness  of 
a  purpose  concerning  me  that  I  should  be  a  good 
man — right,  true,  and  unselfish — is  the  first  firm 
footing  I  have  in  the  region  of  religious  thought, 
for  I  cannot  dissociate  the  idea  of  a  purpose  from 
that  of  a  Purposer,  and  I  cannot  but  identify  this 


THE  MORAL  ARGUMENT  63 

Purposer  with  the  Author  of  my  being  and  the 
Being  of  all  beings ;  and,  further,  I  cannot  but 
regard  his  purpose  toward  me  as  the  unmistakable 
indication  of  his  own  character." 

There  is  another  branch  of  the  moral  argument. 

We  find  ourselves  confronted  with  evident  traces 

of  a  moral  government.     The  course  of 

eous  Moral  human  affairs  affords  sufficient  proof  of 

Governor.  ,      .     .  . 

a  righteous  administration  on  the  part  of 
the  Supreme  Ruler.  Rewards  in  the  form  of  the 
allotment  of  happiness  follow  in  the  train  of  vir- 
tue, and  suffering  is  the  ordained  consequence  of 
vice.  These  rewards  and  penalties  consist  not 
only  of  the  feelings  which  the  consciousness  of 
right-doing  and  of  wrong-doing  produce  respect- 
ively among  the  virtuous  and  the  vicious,  but  the 
course  of  things  is  so  arranged  that  advantages 
and  disadvantages  in  many  forms  accrue  from 
without,  according  as  men  obey  or  disobey  the 
moral  law.  "  Whatsoever  a  man  soweth,  that 
shall  he  also  reap,"  is  not  merely  a  declaration  of 
Scripture  ;  it  is  a  fact  of  observation.  It  is  a 
maxim  which  is  based  on  a  wide  range  of  experi- 
ence. It  is  true  that  the  distribution  of  good  and 
evil  is  not  in  strict  proportion  to  the  deserts  of  the 
individual.  The  rule  seems  to  be  not  without  ex- 
ceptions. Calamities  befalling  the  righteous  and 

1  "  The  Spiritual  Order  and  Other  Papers,"  pp.  47,  48,  quoted 
by  Flint,  (t Theism,"  p.  402. 


64  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

prosperity  enjoyed  by  the  wicked  are  phenomena 
which  demand  a  particular  consideration.  But 
however  the  allotments  of  Providence  may  strike 
us  as  falling  short  of  the  requirements  of  justice, 
or  as  varying  from  them,  there  is  enough  left  to 
convince  the  candid  observer  of  the  lives  of  indi- 
viduals and  of  the  history  of  nations  that  a  right- 
eous God  reigns  and  orders  the  succession  of 
events. 

Not  only  are  we  furnished  with  proofs  of  the 
justice  of  God  by  experience  and  observation, 
there  are  not  wanting  likewise  evidences 
the  benevo-  of  his  benevolence.  No  reasonable 
person  who  contemplates  the  great  ag- 
gregate of  happiness  which  exists  among  sentient 
beings,  men  and  the  creatures  below  men,  and  no- 
tices how  this  happiness  results  from  provisions 
in  Nature  directly  adapted  to  produce  it,  can 
avoid  the  impression  that  the  Creator  and  Lord  of 
all  is  benevolent.  It  would  be  impossible  to  col- 
lect into  a  catalogue  the  sources  of  pleasure,  and 
the  methods  of  relief  from  pain,  which  have  been 
introduced  into  the  constitution  and  environment 
of  the  creatures  of  God  that  are  capable  of  happi- 
ness. As  to  the  suffering  that  exists  in  the  world, 
while  it  does  not  destroy  this  conviction,  it  is  still 
a  perplexing  fact  which  calls  for  special  atten- 
tion. 

The  question  is,  why  does  evil  exist  under  the 


THE  MORAL  ARGUMENT  65 

dominion  of  a  God  of  absolute  power  and  perfect 
goodness  ?  This  is  a  problem  which  in  the  pres- 
The  robiein  en^  discussion  we  cannot  neglect  to  ex- 
ofevil-  aniine.  Evil  is  of  various  kinds.  There 
is  first,  "metaphysical  evil,"  as  it  is  sometimes 
named — evil  of  a  negative  kind,  consisting  in 

that    absence    of   happiness    which   re- 
Turee  kinds 

of  evil.  snlts  from  limitations  of  capacity.  A 
perfectly  happy  man,  in  proportion  as  his  powers 
are  less  than  those  of  an  angel,  is  deprived  of  the 
surplus  of  happiness  which  the  angel  possesses. 
The  cup  of  happiness  may  be  full,  but  the  cup  is 
not  so  large.  Secondly,  there  is  physical  evil  or 
positive  pain  of  whatever  kind.  Thirdly,  there  is 
moral  evil — wrong-doing,  or  sin.  Before  taking 
up  the  question  why  evil  of  these  different  kinds  is 
permitted  to  exist  in  the  universe  of  God,  it  is  de- 
sirable to  call  attention  to  the  impregnable  fortress 
in  which  the  truth  of  the  divine  righteousness  and 
Doctrine  of  benevolence  is  sheltered.  That  truth, 
ne°sdssim|reg-  whatever  difficulties  may  exist  in  con- 
nection with  it,  is  safe  against  every 
assault.  The  basis  of  it  is  in  the  constitution  of 
our  moral  nature.  In  the  human  conscience 
God  has  expressed  his  preference  for  righteous- 
ness and  his  purpose  that  man  should  be  right- 
eous, and  he  has  defined  righteousness  to  be  Love. 
In  making  Love  the  law,  he  has  demonstrated  that 
he  is  Love.  There  is  no  other  rational  interpre- 
5 


66  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

tation  of  conscience.  To  distrust  the  justice  or 
goodness  of  God  is  to  distrust  conscience.  It  is 
to  cast  away  the  organ  and  criterion  of  judgment. 
It  is  thus  to  disqualify  ourselves  for  all  such  in- 
quiry and  criticism  as  the  problem  of  evil  suggests. 
For  whence  does  the  sceptic  derive  the  faculties 
by  which  he  undertakes  to  criticise  the  moral  sys- 
tem ?  Where  did  he  obtain  the  standard  on 
which  his  judgments  are  based?  If  the  universe 
is  so  at  fault,  what  assurance  has  he  that  his  own 
judging  faculty,  the  author  of  this  unfavorable 
verdict,  is  any  better  constructed  Y  In  truth,  re- 
liance on  our  faculties,  whether  intellectual  or 
moral,  involves  trust  in  the  rectitude  of  the  Crea- 
tor. If  it  be  granted,  therefore,  that  the  solution 
of  this  problem  of  evil  is  beyond  the  reach  of  our 
faculties — and  none  save  the  presumptuous  would 
pretend  to  be  able  completely  to  solve  it — our 
faith  in  God  and  in  his  moral  attributes  will 
stand  unshaken.  After  this  preliminary  remark, 
we  offer  a  few  observations  on  the  particular  topic 
before  us. 

Metaphysical  evil,  that  definition  of  evil  which 
is  owing  to  limits  of  capacity  for  happiness,  ex- 
i.  Met  a-  ig*s  °^  necessity,  if  there  are  to  be  finite 
physical  evil,  beings.  No  finite  being  can  be  as 
blessed  as  the  infinite  One.  Unless  one  is  pre- 
pared to  object  to  the  existence  of  a  system  of 
beings  possessed  of  varied  capacities — unless  one 


THE  MORAL  ARGUMENT  67 

is  prepared  to  object  to  the  exertion  of  creative 
power  altogether  —  the  objection  on  account  of 
metaphysical  evil  falls  to  the  ground. 

As  regards  physical  evil,  it  is  clear  at  the  out- 
set that  no  small  part  of  the  suffering  in  the  world 
H  Physical  *s  incidental  to  the  operation  of  general 
laws,  and  that  these  laws  are  beneficent 
in  their  operation.  Nature  is  a  system.  There  is 
no  reason  to  think  it  desirable  that  it  should  not 
Nature- a  ^e  a  svstem.  Were  it  not,  foresight  of 

system.  anything  beyond  the  present  moment 
would  be  impossible.  Human  existence,  if  it 
could  be  kept  up,  would  be  a  scene  of  hopeless 
confusion.  The  nerves  which  occasion  exquisite 
pain  when  the  body  is  accidentally  touched  by 
fire,  are  the  sentinels  that  warn  us  of  the  approach 
of  peril.  Without  their  susceptibility  to  pain, 
they  could  not  fulfil  their  merciful  office.  A 
man,  perhaps  a  noble  and  useful  man,  loses  his 
foothold  at  the  edge  of  the  sea,  and  is  drowned. 
'Who  will  venture  to  say  that  it  would  be  bet- 
ter under  such  circumstances,  all  things  consid- 
ered, for  the  law  of  gravitation  to  be  suspended  by 
a  miraculous  interference  ?  The  great  amount 
of  pain  that  ensues  from  the  inheritance  of  bod- 
Law  of  hered-  ^J  ^s  *s  an  ev^  inseparable  from  the 
ity-  law  of  heredity.  But  this  law  is  the 
fountain  of  incalculable  good.  Who  would  wish 
to  have  it  annulled  ?  Who  would  wish  men 


G8  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

to  be,  instead  of  a  race  bound  together  by  an 
organic  bond,  a  congeries  of  individuals  utterly 
independent  in  their  origin?  Since  human  be- 
ings are  united  by  a  social  tie,  and  since  they 
band  together  in  society — in  families  and  nations 
-it  is  inevitable  that  the  innocent  should  suffer 
with  the  guilty.  This  is  the  price  paid  of  neces- 
sity for  the  blessings  of  the  social  state. 

Human  life  is  a  school  of  discipline.     The  ener- 
gies of  mankind  are  developed  in  conflict.     There 
must    In;    a    struggle    for    subsistence. 

F  v  i  1       !i 

MI-VIMS  of  aw-  There  must  be  a  battle,  with  dangers  to 
clpline. 

life,  and  health,  and  peace.  The  intel- 
lect is  stimulated.  Virtues  of  character  grow  up 
in  the  midst  of  scenes  that  involve  peril.  Com- 
plete safety  and  plenty  are  not  the  conditions 
under  which  civilization  advances  and  manliness 
attains  to  its  full  development. 

These    are    among   the   reflections    which   have 
weight  in  answer  to  the  objection  to  Theism  on 

the  ground  of  the  existence  of  physical 

P  h  v  H  i  c  ;i  I 

Hi.-  hint  of  evil.    ]>ut  there  is  another  thought  in  this 

Moral  evil.  .  , 

connection  of  cardinal  importance.  We 
live  in  a  world  where  moral  evil,  voluntary  Avrong- 
doing,  abounds.  This  being  the  fact  it  is  pre- 
sumptuous to  alHnn  that  the  physical  evil  that 
exists  might  profitably  be  excluded.  AYe  know,  as 
concerns  the  sufferings  of  the  wicked  themselves, 
that  in  countless  instances  it  is  better  that  tin  \ 


THE   MORAL    AliflTWEtfT  69 


should  suffer.  The  system  of  things  would  not  be 
improved  by  an  opposite  arrangement  under  which 
iniquity  should  bring  with  it  no  loss  or  pain.  For 
aught  that  can  be  shown  to  the  contrary,  on  the 
supposition  that  moral  evil  is  to  exist  it  may  be 
well  that  all  the  physical  evil  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge  is  ordained  to  exist.  It  is  the  dic- 
tate of  a  wise  humility  to  bear  in  mind  that  we  are 
dealing  in  our  thoughts  with  a  system  imperfectly 
comprehended. 

The  stress  of  the  difficulty  concerning  the  ex- 
istence of  evil  centres  in  the  question  respecting 

in  Moral  monil  °vil-  ^  hy  is  wrong-doing  allowed 
to  take  place  ?  "Why  is  not  sin  ex- 
cluded ?  If  God  is  almighty,  why  does  he 
not  prevent  it?  The  hostility  of  God  to  sin  is 
plainly  manifested  in  the  testimonies  of  nature 
to  which  we  have  had  occasion  to  advert.  He 
has  promulgated  in  conscience  his  law  against 
it.  He  has  proclaimed  his  approbation  of  right 
moral  actions  and  his  condemnation  of  wrong 
moral  actions  in  the  system  of  rewards  and  penal- 
ties which  occur  by  the  operation  of  natural  laws. 
These  laws  are  his  ordinances.  In  reference  to 
this  subject,  the  fact  that  God  in  his 

Sin    over-  . 

mica  lor  Providence  overrules  wrong-doing,  baf- 

good.  '  ° 

ties  to  so  great  an  extent  its  natural  ten- 
dencies, and  makes  it  the  occasion  of  good,  sheds 
some  light  upon  the  problem.  His  holiness  can- 


70  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

not  be  challenged.  Still  the  inquiry  remains,  why 
some  other  means  of  securing  the  good  attained 
by  overruling  man's  evil-doing  are  not  adopted  ? 
Why  is  sin  permitted  to  defile  the  creation  and 
bring  into  it  so  much  disorder  and  ruin  ?  Seeing 
that  his  benevolence,  his  opposition  to  the  occur- 
rence of  moral  evil,  is  manifest,  we  are  naturally 
led  to  ask  whether  there  may  not  be 

Possible  . 

that  sin  can-  something    to   render   the   exclusion    of 
prevented  by  moral  evil,  by  divine  interposition,  from 

the  Creator.  ' 

the  created  system  incompatible  with 
the  nature  of  things.  The  reason  given  in  Script- 
ure for  allowing  the  tares  to  grow  with  the  wheat 
contains  a  suggestion  in  Natural  Theology.  It  is 
conceivable  that  some  contradiction  may  be  in- 
volved in  the  exclusion  of  wrong-doing  where 
Avrong-doing  actually  occurs  in  that  vast  system 
of  created  things  of  which  we  see  but  a  small  part. 
To  make  a  thing  to  be  and  not  to  be  at  the  same 
time  is  not  an  object  of  power.  Omnipotence  is 
the  power  to  do  all  things  not  involving  a  contra- 
diction. The  glory  of  the  divine  system  is  that 
it  contains  in  it  a  multitude,  we  know  not  how 
great,  of  free  beings,  endowed  with  the  capacity 
of  choice,  and  therefore,  of  necessity,  with  the 
power  to  elect  evil  rather  than  good.  It  is  rou- 
cei /•<//>/<'  that  the  exertions  of  divine  power  which 
would  be  indispensable  in  order  to  prevent  the 
occurrence  of  sin  where  as  a  matter  of  fact  it  ex- 


THE  MORAL  ARGUMENT  71 

ists,  would  needs  carry  with  them,  as  an  inciden- 
tal effect,  such  a  deterioration  of  the  system   as 
would  more  than  balance  the  advantage 

Possible          .  ' 

evil    results  gained.     The  secret  of  the  permission  01 

from  an  alter- 
ation of  the  moral  evil  may  lie  in  the  fact  of  free-will, 

system   of  J 

created  ageu-  existing  to  so  broad  an  extent  as  it  does 

cies. 

exist   in   the   best    of    all   the   systems 

V 

eligible,  even  to  unlimited  power.  This  is  the 
same  as  to  say,  not  that  God  cannot  prevent  the 
evil  that  exists  from  occurring,  but  that  he  cannot 
wisely  do  so.  We  are  not  bound  to  prove  that 
this  is  the  true  solution  of  the  problem.  To  meet 
objections  in  relation  to  the  divine  attributes,  it  is 
only  requisite  to  show  that  it  may  be  the  true  so- 
lution. As  long  as  the  exclusion  of  evil  may  be 
thus  incompatible  with  wisdom,  and  due  to  no 
proper  deficiency  in  power,  the  objector  is  dis- 
armed. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

THE  INTUITION   OF  THE  INFINITE   AND   ABSOLUTE 

THE  words  "infinite'  and  "absolute'  are,  as 
regards  verbal  form,  negative.  "  Infinite  '  signi- 
what  the  ^es  ^ie  "not-limited,"  and  "  absolute " 
terms  mean.  cienotes  the  "  non-relative."  A  generic 
word  which  includes  both  terms  under  it  is  the 
"  unconditioned,"  which  is  also  in  its  verbal  form 
a  negative.  But  we  must  guard  against  the  idea 
that  these  terms,  even  when  they  are  used  as  sub- 
stantives, denote  something  non-existent. 

When  we  look  abroad  upon  the  world,  we  find  a 
multitude  of  objects,  each  of  which  is  limited  in 
Perception  ^s  P°wers?  none  of  which  is  complete  or 
imrUhe  reia-  independent.  There  is  everywhere  de- 
marcation, mutual  dependence,  and  re- 
ciprocal action.  Looking  within,  we  find  ourselves 
in  like  manner  restricted.  Our  mental  action  is 
conformed  to  a  definite  mental  constitution.  ANV 
arrive  at  distinct  self-consciousness  by  distinguish- 
ing ourselves  from  things  not  ourselves.  The  uni- 
verse is  perceived  to  be  a  vast  complexity  of  ob- 
jects inter-related,  neither  of  which  is  independ- 
ent, self-originated,  self-sustained. 

Involved  in  this   consciousness    of   the    condi- 


INTUITION  OF  THE  INFINITE  AND  ABSOL  UTE    73 

tioned,  there  is  a  consciousness  of  what,  so  to 
speak,  is  its  background,  the  unconditioned.  It  is 
The  uncon-  ^ne  correlate  of  the  finite  and  relative.  It 
is  not  a  mere  idea  ;  it  is  known  as  a  real- 
ity. There  is  an  intuition  of  a  being,  neither  finite 
in  powers  nor  related  to  other  beings  as  a  condi- 
tion of  existence.  Most  philosophers  at  the  pres- 
ent day  are  in  accord  in  teaching  that  we  have  this 
necessary  belief  in  the  unconditioned.  This  is  true 
of  the  principal  leaders  of  the  agnostic  schools. 

Be  it  observed  that  the    "  infinite  '    does    not 
mean  the  sum  of  all  being.     It  means  that  the 

Theinfi-  powers    or   capacities   of  the   being   of 

totaiity°of  be-  whom  infinitude  is  predicated  are  limit- 

less.    80  the  "  absolute  "  does  not  imply 

that  there  are  no  other  beings  with  whom  it  stands 

in  a  relation.     The  meaning  is  that  other  beings 

The  abso-  are  no^  necessary  to  its  existence.    Bather 

dusive°ofea£  *s  ^  self-existent,  and  all  other  things 

exist  in  a  relation  of  dependence  with 

reference  to  it.     The  absolute  being  is  subject  to 

no  limitation  that  is  not  self-imposed. 

It  is  sometimes  asserted  that  if  the  uncondi- 
tioned being  is  infinite,  that  being  cannot  be  per- 

The  inf  i-  sonal-     Personality,  it  is   said,  implies 


soluts  paer-  finiteness.    This  is  a  rash  and  unfounded 
inference  from  the  circumstance  that  in 
the  case  of  man  finiteness  is  connected  with  per- 
sonality.    This  is   owing   to  the  fact  that  man's 


74  NATURAL   THEOLOCY 

personality  is  developed  in  connection  with  a 
body,  and  to  the  additional  fact  that  he  is  simply 
one  of  numerous  finite  personalities  of  the  same 
class.  To  assert  that  self- consciousness  cannot  ex- 
ist independently  of  these  particular  conditions  to 
which  man  is  subject,  and  by  which  he  comes  to 
a  knowledge  of  himself,  is  a  leap  in  logic.  The 
unconditioned  being  may  be  personal  without 
being  subject  to  the  restrictions  and  infirmities 
that  pertain  to  human  beings.  Personality  either 
belongs,  or  does  not  belong,  to  the  unconditioned. 
But  if  personality — that  is,  self-consciousness  and 
self-determination — are  wanting,  there  is  surely  a 
lack  quite  inconsistent  with  any  rational  concep- 
tion of  the  infinite  and  absolute  being.  Infinitude 
consists  not  in  being  destitute  of  the  highest  per- 
fections of  man.  God  is  infinite,  not  as  being  void 
of  qualities.  A  being  destitute  of  qualities  is  a 
zero.  Infinitude  is  the  possession  of  all  conceiv- 
able perfections  without  measure. 

It  is  the  intuition  of  the  infinite  and  absolute 

which  fills  out  whatever  is  deficient  in  the  several 

proofs  of   Theism   that   have   been   ad- 

The  infini-      .. 

tude  of  God's  cluced.     It  iimiishes  a  valid   assurance 

attributes.  ,  . 

that  he  whose  power,  as  seen  in  the 
universe,  is  great  beyond  conception,  is  literally 
almighty.  The  like  is  to  be  said  of  his  wisdom 
and  of  all  the  other  divine  attributes  to  which 
nature  bears  witness. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

ANTI-THEISTIC    THEORIES 

* 

IF  the  arguments  on  the  preceding  pages  are 
valid,  opinions  at  variance  with  Theism  are  logi- 
cally excluded.  But  brief  comments  upon  such 
theories,  in  addition  to  what  has  been  indirectly 
brought  forward  in  refutation  of  them,  will  not  be 
out  of  place. 

One  form  of  anti-theistic  theory  is  materialism. 
The  coarser  form  of  the  doctrine,  that  thought  is 
Material-  a  material  substance,  is  obsolete.  The 
ism  defined,  ^o^rine,  as  far  as  it  is  now  held,  is  that 
thought  is  the  attribute  or  product  of  nervous 
matter,  as  magnetism  is  the  property  of  the  load- 
stone. It  follows  that  when  the  brain  dies  the 
mind  ceases  to  be. 

In  looking  at  this  theory,  the  first  thing  that 

strikes  us  is  the  absence  of  any  support  for  it  in 

NO  bridge  tlie  facts  of  physiology  and  psychology. 

mlnd^and  Intimate  as  is  the  relation  between  our 

physical  organism    and   our    conscious 

states  of   thought,  feeling   and  will,  we  seek  in 

vain  for  any  bridge  to  span  the  gulf  that  separates 


76  NATURAL   THEOLOGY. 

body  and  mind.  There  is  no  likeness  whatever 
between  the  molecular  movements  of  the  brain  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  perceptions,  emotions,  and 
volitions  which  are  associated  with  them.  "  They 
appear  together,"  says  Professor  Tyndall,  "  but  we 
do  not  know  why.  The  passage  from  the  physics 
of  the  brain  to  the  corresponding  facts  of  con- 
sciousness is  unthinkable."  The  doc- 

The  "con- 
servation  of  trine  of  the  "  conservation  of  energy  " — 

energy."  oJ 

that  no  amount  of  energy  is  dissipated 
or  lost,  but  simply  changes  its  form,  and  is  re- 
solved into  an  equivalent — affords  not  the  least  aid 
in  filling  up  the  chasm  between  thought  and  physi- 
cal movement.  Force  is  not  transformed  into 
thought,  nor  is  thought  transformed  back  again 
into  force.  "  All  the  force  in  the  molecular  action 
is  fully  accounted  for  by  physical  changes  in  the 
body."  There  is  no  transmission  of  physical  en- 
ergy from  matter  to  mind.  There  is  no  imparting 
of  energy  from  mind  to  matter.  What  we  call  the 
"  influence  "  of  mind  and  body  upon  one  another 
admits  of  no  physical  explanation.  If  the  mind 
is  strongly  affected  by  physical  changes — con- 
sciousness, for  example,  being  suspended  in  conse- 
quence of  a  blow  on  the  head — it  is  equally  true 
Reciprocal  ^ia^  Distinctively  mental  states  have  a 
influence^  ^of  reciprocal  influence  upon  the  body. 

The  emotion  of  fear  brings  pallor  to  the 
cheek.  The  news  of  the  death  of  a  dear  friend 


ANTI-THEISTIC   THEORIES  77 

may  bereave  us  in  an  instant  of  all  strength,  or 
strike  us  prostrate  to  the  earth.  No  scrutiny  into 
the  physical  antecedents  of  these  effects  avails  in 
the  least  to  explain  them.  To  seek  for  a  solution 
on  this  path  would  be  as  absurd,  from  a  strictly 
scientific  point  of  view,  as  to  ascribe  to  conscious- 
ness color,  or  size,  or  weight.  Close  as  is  the 
connection,  therefore,  which  subsists  at  present 
between  mind  and  body,  it  furnishes  no  proof  that 
when  the  body  dies  the  mind  ceases  to  exist. 

Materialism,  and  the  fatalism  which  belongs  with 
it,  really  involve  absurdities  without  end.     What 

is  truth  or  falsehood  on  this  hypothe- 
ties  ot  mate-  sis  ?  What  are  reasonable  and  irrational 

judgments?  What  are  sanity  and  in- 
sanity ?  All  acts  of  perception,  all  states  of  mind, 
are,  any  one  as  much  as  any  other,  natural  phe- 
nomena occurring  in  the  course  of  the  regular  ac- 
tion of  nature's  laws.  The  molecular  movement  of 
the  brain,  it  is  said,  causes  one  state  of  conscious- 
ness to  succeed  to  another ;  but,  on  the  material- 
istic philosophy,  one  is  equally  rational  with  the 
other.  All  are  alike  necessary  steps  in  the  pro- 
cess of  evolution.  There  is  no  criterion  to  serve 
as  a  basis  for  a  distinction  between  that  which  is 
normal  and  that  which  is  abnormal.  How  can 
one  particular  disposition  of  molecules  charge 
another  with  going  astray  ?  The  judge  is  on  the 
same  level  with  the  parties  judged.  Tyndall,  de- 


78  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

fender  of  the  doctrine  that  all  things  that  are  or 
have  been  were  potentially  present  in  matter,  was 
disposed  to  ascribe  the  scientific  beliefs  of  Agas- 
siz,  whose  sincerity  he  did  not  question,  to  the 
circumstance  that  his  grandfather  was  a  clergy- 
man !  But  has  not  everyone  a  grandfather  ?  Why 
not  attribute  Tyndall's  own  theories  to  an  analo- 
gous cause  ?  Who  shall  decide,  as  between  the 
two  progenitors,  whose  brain  was  the  soundest  ? 
As  we  have  suggested,  how  can  such  a  question 
be  asked,  when  all  is  normal,  and  when  the  very 
discrimination  by  which  one  sets  the  grandfather 
of  Tyndall  above  the  grandfather  of  Agassiz  is  it- 
self a  mere  phenomenon  of  molecular  action  ?  Who 
can  predict  what  opinion  will  emerge  upon  some 
later  shuffle  of  atoms  ? 

There  is  an  irreconcilable  conflict  between  the 

highest   feelings   and   aspirations   of   the   human 

soul  and  the  materialistic  theory  of  the  universe. 

It  has  been  justly  said  that  the  feeling  oi-compas- 

Materiai-  s^on  ^s  a^  utter  variance  with  the  system 


the°mor-  of  things,  in  case,  as  it  is  asserted, 
ts'  nature  is  jtitilcss,  and  there  is  no  com- 
passionate and  helping  power  besides.  Self-for- 
getfulness  is  the  very  antipode  of  self-assertion 
which  reigns  everywhere  in  the  objective  world. 
"  The  real  world,"  says  Mr.  Martineau,  accord- 
ing to  the  materialistic  creed,  "  provides  interests 
alone,  which,  when  adequately  masked,  call  them- 


ANTI-THEISTIC  THEORIES  79 

selves  virtues,  and  pass  for  something  new." 
Under  the  withering  breath  of  materialism,  the 
higher  feelings  lose  "  all  support  from  Omniscient 
approval,  and  all  presumable  accordance  with  the 
reality  of  things." 

The  argument  from  conscience  effectually  con- 
futes materialism.     No  man  of  sane  mind  can  deny 
that  the  phenomena  of  the  moral  nat- 

Conscience  -11 

versus    mate-  tire  are  as  real  as  any  which  the  senses 

rialism. 

or  the  instruments  of  a  physicist  can 
observe.  They  are  facts  which  science,  in  the 
large  sense  of  the  term,  must  take  notice  of  or 
abdicate  its  function.  To  ignore  the  vast  and 
various  phenomena  which  connect  themselves 
with  the  sense  of  moral  responsibleness,  is  impos- 
sible. What  account  shall  be  given  of  moral 
praise  and  blame — of  self-approval  and  censure? 
Here  these  feelings  are,  and  here  they  always  have 
been.  Do  they  testify  to  the  truth  ?  If  they  do 
not,  then  away  with  the  language  which  only 
serves  to  deceive  ;  away  with  all  the  multiform  ex- 
pressions of  moral  approbation  or  condemnation  ; 
away  with  courts  of  law,  and  the  other  infinitely 
various  manifestations  of  the  sense  of  justice  and 
moral  accountableness,  on  which  the  entire  fabric 
of  social  life  reposes  !  The  materialist  must  al- 
low that  these  verdicts  of  the  moral  faculty,  be 
their  genesis  what  it  may,  are  as  valid  as  are  any 
judgments  of  the  intellect.  The  moral  discernment 


80  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

rests  on  as  solid  a  foundation  as  the  intellectual 
perceptions.  Now  apply  the  doctrine  that  the  de- 
terminations of  the  will — the  faithfulness  of  St. 
John,  and  the  treachery  of  Judas,  alike — are  the 
necessary  effect  of  atomic  movements  of  matter. 
They  simply  indicate  a  certain  molecular  action  of 
the  matter  in  portions  of  the  brain.  Then  moral 
approval  or  condemnation,  the  joy  of  one  who  has 
triumphed  over  a  temptation,  the  remorse  of  one 
who  has  betrayed  the  innocent,  are  the  veriest 
folly.  A  man  who  maliciously  shoots  his  neighbor 
has  no  more  occasion  to  blame  himself  for  the 
deed  than  has  a  horse  who  destroys  a  man's  life 
by  a  kick.  Men  call  such  an  animal,  in  figurative 
speech,  a  vicious  animal ;  and,  if  materialism  is 
true,  there  is  no  other  kind  of  vice  possible  to  a 
human  being.  Tyndall,  in  one  of  his  productions, 
argues  that  this  doctrine  of  molecular  ethics  is 
perfectly  consistent  with  the  application  of  motives 
for  the  purpose  of  inducing  men  to  act  in  one  way 
rather  than  another.  These  motives,  it  is  implied, 
are  forces  thrown  into  the  scale  that  the  beam  may 
rise  on  the  opposite  side.  This  is  the  statement 
which  fatalists  of  every  type  are  forever  making. 
But  the  point  insisted  upon  is  not  the  freedom  of 
the  will  as  known  by  direct  consciousness,  although 
this  evidence  of  man's  moral  freedom  is  incontro- 
vertible ;  but  the  phenomena  of  moral  approval 
and  disapproval,  of  guilt,  self-accusation,  and  re- 


ANTI-THEIST1C  THEORIES  81 

morse,  are  the  facts  that  demand  some  explana- 
tion which  shall  not  discredit  their  reality  in  the 
very  attempt  to  explain  them.  Here  it  is  that 
the  materialistic  psychology  breaks  down.  Nor 
can  it  be  said  that  this  is  opposing  a  doctrine  by 
merely  pointing  out  its  mischievous  consequences. 
The  affirmations  of  conscience  referred  to  as  put- 
ting to  rout  the  advocates  of  materialism  are  as 
truly  perceptions  and  judgments  as  are  any  of 
the  propositions  that  result  from  the  exercise  of 
the  senses  or  the  understanding.  If  materialistic 
evolution,  as  predicated  of  moral  action,  be  true, 
the  rational  nature  is  at  war  with  itself.  There  is 
an  insoluble  contradiction  in  human  intelligence 
itself,  which  no  sophistical  juggle  of  words  can 
avail  to  cover  up,  much  less  to  remove. 

Pantheism  denies  the  personality  of  God.     The 
God  of  the  Pantheist  is  not  only  immanent  in  the 

world  :    this   the   Theist    also    believes. 

-g^  ^Q  pantheist  knows  of  no  Deity 
separable  from  the  world  or  as  anything  else  than 
its  all-pervading  cause  or  essence.  Spinoza  held 
that  God  is  the  impersonal  substance  of  which  all 
things  are  the  manifestation.  Hegel,  the  most 
distinguished  of  the  German  Pantheists,  held  that 
he  is  the  self-unfolding  thought-system  of  the 
universe  —  the  self  -unfolding  system  which  consti- 
tutes all  reality,  and  attains  to  self-consciousness 
in  man,  or  mankind,  collectively. 
6 


Forms  of 
pantheism. 


82  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

Every  scheme  of  Pantheism  starts  with  unproved 

assumptions.     Spinoza's  theory  of  the    "one  and 

simple   substance  '    is    an    assumption. 

tionsSo8fUpan-  The  same  is  true  of  Hegel's  notion  that 

all  reality  is  idealistic.     There  are  vio- 

lations of  logic  along  the  course  of  the  construc- 

tion of  the  Pantheistic  systems. 

In   making   the   mind  a   mere  phenomenon  or 
transient   phase  of   an  impersonal  essence,   Pan- 
theism    contradicts   our    consciousness. 
?n,«8  The  mind  knows  itself  to  be  a  distinct, 

lUllo"  * 

substantial,  undivided  unity,  the  centre 
and  source  of  all  mental  operations. 

Every  system  of  Pantheism  is  necessarian.     It 

overthrows   by   necessary   consequence  moral  re- 

Pantheism  sponsibility,    the   absolute   antithesis  of 

wit^on1-  g°od   and  evil,  the  distinction  between 

natural  history  and  moral  history.     Spi- 

noza regards  remorse  as  unreasonable,  and  finds 

no   place  for  penitence.     Moral  evil,  whenever  it 

occurs,  must  be  pronounced  by  the  Pantheist  to  be 

normal. 

Positivism  is  the  antipode  of  Pantheism.     The 

Positivist  asserts  that  nothing  is  known  but  phe- 

nomena.    Of  causes,  efficient  or  final,  we 

Positivism  .  -. 

-  are  said  to  have  no  knowlede, 


is  the  arrangement  of  observed  facts 
under  the  heads  of  likeness  and  unlikeness,  and 
simultaneity  or  succession  in  time.  But  where 


ANTT-THEISTIO  THEORIES  83 

does  the  Positivist  get  the  notions  of  likeness  and 
temporal  succession  ?  They  surely  do  not  come 
to  us  through  the  senses.  Causation  and  design 
have  as  good  a  warrant  as  these  ideas.  It  is  un- 
deniable that  our  mental  states  form  a  distinct3  pe- 
culiar class.  If  they  are  not  to  be  referred  to  the 
mind  as  their  source,  they  must  be  attributed  to 
matter.  But  to  adopt  this  latter  branch  of  the  al- 
ternative would  be  to  fall  back  into  materialism. 

Agnosticism  differs  from  Positivism  in  asserting 
that  behind  phenomena  there  is  a  reality  which  is 
spencer's  their  ground.  But  of  the  nature  of  that 
theory.0  s  fc  i  c  reality  it  professes  to  be  absolutely  ig- 
norant. It  is  an  "  Unknowable."  Our 
states  of  consciousness  are  its  effects.  "  A  Power," 
says  Herbert  Spencer,  "of  which  the  nature  re- 
mains forever  inconceivable,  and  to  which  no 
limits  in  time  or  space  can  be  imagined,  works  in 
us  certain  effects."  l  The  method  in  which  the  in- 
scrutable Power  acts  is  Evolution.  Matter  differ- 
entiates itself,  passing  on  through  successive  stages, 
until  nervous  organism  comes  to  exist,  and  at 
length  personal  consciousness  arises.  All  our 
mental  life,  with  its  complex  contents,  is  woven 
out  of  sensations.  It  is  denied  that  this  theory  is 
materialism,  for  the  reason  that  the  nature  of  the 
underlying  reality  is  declared  to  be  inscrutable. 
All  our  perceptions  of  the  world  outside  of  con- 
1  "  First  Principles,"  p.  557. 


84  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

sciousness  are  affirmed  to  be  symbolical.  The 
symbols,  however,  afford  no  clew  to  the  discern- 
ment of  what  they  stand  for. 

It  is  evident  that  in  this  system  nature  is  made 

to  beget  consciousness,  and  consciousness,  in  turn, 

is  made   to   beget   nature.      We   know 

cism  self-  nothing  of  nature  except  as  "  transfig- 

contradictory.  °.  .  u 

ured  in  consciousness.  It  is  plain, 
moreover,  that  "  the  unknowable  "  is  confessed  to 
be  known  when  it  is  said  that  "  the  unknowable ' 
works  in  us  certain  effects.  If  it  is  a  "  Power,"  a, 
"  Cause,"  there  is  equal  ground  for  saying  that  the 
attribute  of  wisdom  belongs  to  it,  and  the  other 
attributes  which  are  discovered  in  its  effects.  It  is 
said  that  we  know  not  what  is  denoted  by  "  power  " 
and  "  cause."  But  take  away  "  cause,"  whatever 
it  be,  from  "  the  unknowable,"  nothing  is  left ;  and 
it  is  granted  that  the  only  cause  of  which  we  have 
any  idea  is  our  own  personal  activity. 

The  Agnostic  attaches  the  same  symbolical  char- 
acter, or  anthropomorphism,  to  all  our  conceptions 
and  language  respecting  nature  as  he  as- 

Religionon  ^  .  .  .,      ,. 

a  level  with  serts  to  be  implied  in  attributing  per- 

8C1GHCG 

sonality  to  God.  Thus  it  follows  that 
the  truths  of  natural  religion  stand  on  the  same 
basis  as  the  natural  sciences — chemistry,  for  ex- 
ample, with  its  doctrine  of  the  atomic  constitution 
of  matter. 

Theism  concludes  that  God  is  an  intelligent  be- 


ANTI-THEIST1C  THEORIES  85 

ing  because  intelligence  is  manifest  in  the  effects 
of  his  agency.  Paley  makes  use  of  a  watch  to  il- 
lustrate the  argument  of  design.  Herbert  Spencer 
makes  the  strange  observation  that  could  the  watch, 
in  Paley 's  example,  think,  it  would  judge  its  crea- 
tor to  be  like  itself,  a  watch.  Could  the  watch 
think  and  choose,  it  would  be  rational,  and  would 
then  reason  like  other  rational  beings,  and  con- 
clude that  the  artificer  of  such  a  product  as  itself 
must  have  designed  it  beforehand — that  is  to  say, 
must  be  a  mind. 

Agnosticism,  denying  the  reality  of  the  ego,  de- 
nies at  the  same  time  man's  moral  freedom  in  any 
true  sense  of  the  terms,  and  thus  sweeps 
cism  denies  away   that    personal    responsibility    for 

free-will 

our  moral  choices  which  is  a  fact  of  con- 
sciousness. 

Agnosticism,  like  other  systems  more   or  less 
kindred  to  it,  is  built  on  what  is  called  the  relativ- 
ity of  knowledge — a  doctrine  which,  in 

All  eged       J 

relativity  of  the  sense  given  to  it,  is  untenable.     It  is 

knowledge. 

the  doctrine  that  the  mind  is  incapable 
of  knowing  things  as  they  are  ;  that  knowledge  is 
a  process  going  forward  within  us  to  Avhich  there 
is  no  corresponding  reality ;  that  the  mind  is,  so 
to  speak,  a  mill  which  so  transforms  whatever 
falls  into  it  that  its  original  likeness  vanishes. 
Sound  philosophy  begins  in  the  full  and  consistent 
recognition  of  the  veracity  of  our  knowing  facul- 


86  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

ties.  Intuitions  are  the  counterpart  of  reality. 
The  laws  of  thought  are  the  laws  of  things.  Dis- 
tinct as  mind  and  nature  are,  there  is  such  an 
affinity  in  the  constitution  of  both,  and  such  an 
adaptation  of  each  to  each,  that  knowledge  is  not 
the  bare  product  of  subjective  activity,  but  a  reflex 
of  reality.  In  the  manifestations  of  God  in  the 
soul  and  in  the  world  without,  God  is  truly  mani- 
fest. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE   FUTURE   LIFE   OF   THE   SOUL 

Does  the  soul  survive  the  death  of  the  body? 
We  cannot  infer  that  it  does  from  the  native  de- 
Future  life  s^re   °^  a  continuance   of   life,   for   the 
Sy\hepdesire  l°wer  animals   share  with  man  this  in- 
stinctive desire,  which  is  provided  as  a 
means  of  self-preservation.     It  is  only  when  this 
desire  rises  into  a  loftier  aspiration,  the  object  of 
which  is  something  higher  than  the  mere  prolon- 
gation of  life,  that  it  can  enter  into  the  foundation 
of  a  belief  in  an  existence  beyond  death. 

In  answering  the  question  proposed  above,  the 

first  point  to  determine  is  whether  man  has  a  soul. 

If  what  we  term  the  soul  is  nothing  but 

Material-  .  -IP-  i 

ism  exciud-  a  function,  or  mode  of  action,  ot  the  body, 
or  of  parts  of  it,  it  would  be  absurd  to 
expect  the  soul  to  outlive  our  physical  organism. 
We  might  as  well  look  for  speech  when  the  vocal 
organs  are  dissolved  into  dust.  Materialism,  where 
it  is  accepted,  is  fatal  to  the  belief  in  a  future  life 
of  the  spirit.  The  reasons  have  already  been  in- 
dicated which  evince  materialism  to  be  a  ground- 


88  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

less  theory,  resting  on  superficial  impressions,  and 
vanishing  under  the  scrutiny  of  science.  There  is 
nothing,  therefore,  in  the  relation  of  the  body  to 
the  soul  to  prevent  the  soul  from  continuing  to 
exist  in  other  spheres  of  activity  when  it  parts 
company  with  its  material  vesture.  There  are 
considerations  that  tend  to  inspire  the  belief  that 
such  is  its  destiny. 

Man,  within  the  period  of  his  earthly  life,  does 
not  and  cannot  attain  to  the  end  of  his  being.  He 
is  capable  of  an  indefinite  intellectual 
the  capacity  progress.  The  lower  animals  are  bounded 
in  their  advancement  by  the  operations 
of  instinct.  Their  horizon  is  close  about  them. 
Being  endowed  with  reason  and  with  aspirations 
after  knowledge,  man,  when  his  intellectual  nature 
has  been  stirred  within  him,  is  debarred  from  trav- 
ersing the  field  that  ever  allures  him  onward.  He 
is  obliged  to  halt  on  a  journey  which  would  seem 
to  have  just  begun.  The  career  is  cut  short  for 
which  he  appears  to  be  destined,  and  for  which  he 
is  fitted  by  the  Author  of  his  being.  If  it  be 
thought  that  death  extinguishes  the  spiritual  part, 
the  design  of  God  respecting  him  seems  to  be 
thwarted.  It  is  rational  to  siippose  that  death  is 
a  passage  through  a  gate  to  an  ampler  field  where 
progress  in  knowltMl^v  will  not  be  broken  off. 

A  cogent  proof  that  death  is  not  the  end  of  the 
soul's  life  is  found  in  tlic  fact  that  the  system  of 


THE   Fl'TntE   LIFE   OF   THE   SOUL  89 

moral  government  which  God  is  evidently  carry- 
ing forward  in  this  world  is  here  incomplete. 
God's  mor-  In  this  system  he  is  revealed  as  allot- 
ment0 Scom-  ting  happiness  to  the  good  and  suffering 
plete'  to  the  wicked.  The  method  of  his  ad- 

ministration is  clearly  discerned.  The  purpose  is 
brought  to  liirht.  But  the  system  is  not  strictly 

«/  */ 

or  fully  carried  out.  There  is  not  an  exact  pro- 
portion between  the  character  of  individuals  and 
their  lot.  Here  on  earth  the  harvest  is  but  partially 
reaped.  It  is  said  that  virtue  is  its  own  reward, 
and  vice  its  own  penalty.  This  maxim  has  a 
foundation  in  truth,  as  pointing  to  the  fact  that 
the  best  rewards  and  the  severest  punishments  are 
not  of  an  external  nature,  but  lie  within  the  sphere 
of  the  soul  which  is  holy  or  guilty.  Yet  time  is 
required,  and  very  often  a  longer  time  than  the 
limit  of  the  longest  earthly  life  allows,  for  spiritual 
blessedness  on  the  one  hand,  and  misery  on  the 
other,  to  emerge  in  their  full  and  proper  measure. 
Virtue,  while  in  the  struggle  with  temptation,  does 
not  yet  enjoy  the  fruits  of  virtue.  To  attain  these 
virtue  must  be  established  in  undisputed  control 
over  insubordinate  ideas  and  passions.  "\Vicked- 
ness,  as  long  as  its  prosperity  lasts,  does  not  feel 
the  stings  of  conscience  in  their  full  severity.  The 
evil  man  mav  die  before  remorse  overtakes  him. 

•/ 

Nor  ought  we  to  omit  to  notice  the  fact  that  inno- 
cence may  not  infrequently  fail  of  a  just  viudica- 


90  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

tion  on  the  present  stage  of  human  life,  and  in- 
iquity may  escape  a  righteous  exposure.  Is  not 
the  expectation  of  the  maligned,  of  the  victims  of 
fallible  human  verdicts,  that  a  day  of  redress  will 
come,  rational?  And  is  not  the  fearful  looking- 
for  of  judgment,  a  feeling  so  natural  to  the  iniqui- 
tous, equally  rational  ? 

One  period  of  our  life  is  perceived  to  involve  a 
probation  in  reference  to  the  period  that  follows. 
Life  a  proba-  Our  character  and  circumstances  in  the 
later  period  are  determined  by  what  we 
do,  or  fail  to  do,  in  the  earlier.  This  is  not  a  con- 
jecture, it  is  not  a  mere  probability ;  it  is  a  truth 
of  experience.  The  child  is  father  of  the  man. 
The  observed  fact  of  a  probation  takes  away  the 
charge  of  unreasonableness  in  the  idea  that  the 
whole  of  life  here  is  a  probation  as  related  to  a  life 
hereafter.  But  the  fact  of  probation  is  more  than 
a  mere  analogy.  It  has  more  than  a  simply  nega- 
tive force.  We  see  that  probation,  with  its  two  ele- 
ments of  sowing  and  reaping,  is  not,  as  we  have 
before  remarked,  closed  up  in  the  present  life. 
Hence  we  are  justified  in  anticipating  a  continu- 
ance of  conscious  life  in  a  world  beyond. 

The  reality  of  a  future  life  is  a  reasonable  con- 
clusion from  the  worth  of  the  soul.     The  human 
The  worth  soul  *s  ^ne  goal  toward  which  the  world's 
of  the  eoui.    hiyfjQjy  prior  to   mail  points  and  leads. 

Man  is  the  crowning  work  of  God.     His  value  lies 


TEE  FUTURE  LIFE  OF  THE  SOUL  91 

in  the  spirit  that  is  in  him.  The  long  approach 
in  the  upward  course  of  things  at  last  conducts  to 
this  product  of  supreme  worth,  the  rational  soul, 

"  With  such  large  discourse, 
Looking  before  and  after  .... 
That  capability  and  godlike  reason." 

Will  a  thing  of  priceless  worth  be  blotted  out  of 
being  ?  Will  the  Maker  fling  away  to  nothing- 
ness the  consummate  work  of  his  hands  ? 

Investigation  shows  us  that  through  the  creation 
a  purpose  runs.  Everything  that  comes  from  God 
has  its  place  in  a  comprehensive  design.  But  un- 
less man  survives  death  all  is  for  naught.  The 
world  as  a  whole  is  purposeless.  It  terminates 
in  no  end  commensurate  with  the  wisdom  discov- 
ered in  its  creation. 

The  religious  nature  of  man,  his  capacity  for  fel- 
lowship with  God,  warrants  the  expectation  of  a 
Man's  ca-  ^Q  beyond  death.  Would  God  enter 
PowsSpVith  into  a  close  relation  of  spiritual  fellow- 
ship with  a  creature  whom  he  intended 
in  a  few  days  to  strike  out  of  existence,  or  to  suffer 
to  become  absolutely  extinct  ?  It  appears  incred- 
ible. This  argument  is  brought  forward  in  the 
Scriptures.  It  is  adduced  here,  not  on  the  author- 
ity of  the  Scriptures,  but  from  its  intrinsic  force  as 
an  argument.  Man  in  intercourse  with  his  Crea- 


92  NATURAL   THEOLOGY 

tor — in  such  intercourse  as  takes  place  in  prayer- 
stands  on  a  lofty  plane.     Such  a  position  is  incom- 
patible with  the  idea  that  after  a  short  interval  he 
is  to  be  left  to  drop  into  nothingness. 


, 
,  .       • 


NOTE 

THE  ONTOLOGICAL  ARGUMENT 

THIS  is  an  argument  respecting  the  force  of 
which  there  is  a  wide  diversity  of  opinion.  It 
professes  to  prove  the  being  of  God  from  the  idea 
of  God.  It  is  presented  by  Anselrn  of  Canterbury 
substantially  in  this  form :  We  have,  and  cannot 
but  have,  the  idea  of  a  most  perfect  being — of  a 
being  a  greater  than  whom  cannot  be  conceived. 
This  being  actually  exists :  otherwise  we  could 
conceive  of  a  being  with  all  his  perfection  with 
the  superadded  property  of  existence.  That  is  to 
say,  we  could  conceive  a  being  more  perfect  than 
the  most  perfect.  Gaunilo,  the  monk  who  debated 
the  question  with  Anselm,  urged  that  if  the  argu- 
ment were  valid,  then  to  imagine  the  most  beau- 
tiful island  is  tantamount  to  proving  its  existence. 
In  the  same  spirit  Kant  remarks  that  the  concep- 
tion of  one  hundred  dollars  is  very  different  from 
having  one  hundred  dollars  in  one's  pocket.  The 
reply  of  Anselm  to  Gaunilo  was  in  effect  this,  that 
the  conception  of  a  perfect  island  is  an  arbitrary, 
artificial  notion,  whereas  the  conception  of  the 


94  NATURAL    THEOLOGY 

most  perfect  being  is  necessary.  It  is  objected 
that  existence  is  not  an  element  in  the  concept,  that 
the  sum  of  the  attributes  is  the  same  whether  the 
idea  has  an  object  corresponding  to  it  or  not.  To 
this  it  has  been  replied  that  it  is  necessary  exist- 
ence— self-existence — which  enters  into  the  idea  of 
the  most  perfect  being — that  is,  not  mere  existence, 
but  a  mode  of  existence ;  and  that  this  is  a  prop- 
erty or  element  in  the  concept. 

The  intuition  of  the  Absolute  appears  to  em- 
brace what  the  Anselmic  argument  attempts  to 
cast  into  a  syllogistic  form. 

Anselm's  proof  has  been  defended  by  Hegel. 
It  is  not  rejected  by  Flint,  "  Theism  '  p.  279,  and 
is  considered  valid  by  Shedd,  "History  of  Doc- 
trine," vol.  i.,  p.  238. 

Another  proof  of  the  existence  of  God  from 
the  Truth,  the  common  bond  of  thoughts  and 
things,  is  presented  in  "  The  Grounds  of  Theistic 
and  Christian  Belief,"  p.  41. 


.    CHURCH    HISTORY. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  With  a  View  of  ths 
State  of  the  Roman  World  at  the  Birth  of  Christ.  By 
GEORGE  P.  FISHER,  D.D,,  LL.D.,  Professor  of  Church 
History  in  Yale  College.  8vo,  $2.50. 

T  HE  BOSTON  ADVERTISER.— "  Prof.  Fisher  has  displayed  in  this,  as  in  hia 
previous  published  writings,  that  catholicity  and  that  calm  judicial  quality  ol 
mind  which  are  so  indispensable  to  a  true  historical  critic." 

THE  EXAMINER.— "The  volume  is  not  a  dry  repetition  of  well-known  facts. 
It  bears  the  marks  of  original  research.  Every  page  glows  with  freshness  of 
material  and  choiceness  of  diction." 

THE  EVANGELIST.— "The  volume  contains  an  amount  of  information  that 
makes  it  one  of  the  most  useful  of  treatises  for  a  student  in  philosophy  and 
theology,  and  must  secure  for  it  a  place  in  his  library  as  a  standard  authority." 

HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  By  GEORGE  P. 
FISHER,  D.D.,  LL.D,,  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  in 
Yale  University.  8vo,  with  numerous  maps,  $3,50. 

This  work  is  in  several  respects  notable.  It  gives  an  able  presenta- 
tion of  the  subject  in  a  single  volume,  thus  supplying  the  need  of  a 
complete  and  at  the  same  time  condensed  survey  of  Church  History. 
It  will  also  be  found  much  broader  and  more  comprehensive  than  other 
books  of  the  kind. 

HON.  GEORGE  BANCROFT.— "I  have  to  tell  you  of  the  pride  and  delight 
with  which  I  have  examined  your  rich  and  most  instructive  volume.  As  an 
American,  let  me  thank  you  for  producing  a  work  so  honorable  to  the  country." 

REV.  R.  S.  STORRS,  D.D.— "I  am  surprised  that  the  author  has  been  able  to 
put  such  multitudes  of  facts,  with  analysis  of  opinions,  definitions  of  tendencies, 
and  concise  personal  sketches,  into  a  narrative  at  once  so  graceful,  graphic,  and 
compact." 

PROF.  ALEXANDER  V.  G.  ALLEN,  Episcopal  Divinity  Scfiool,  Cambridge, 
Mass.— "It  has  the  merit  of  being  eminently  readable,  its  conclusions  rest  on  the 
widest  research  and  the  latest  and  best  scholarship,  it  keeps  a  just  sense  of  pro- 
portion in  the  treatment  of  topics,  it  is  written  in  the  interest  of  Christianity  as  a 
whole  and  not  of  any  sect  or  church,  it  is  so  entirely  impartial  that  it  is  not  easy 
to  discern  the  author's  sympathies  or  his  denominational  attitude,  and  it  has  the 
great  advantage  of  dwelling  at  due  length  upon  English  and  American  Church 
history.  In  short,  it  is  a  work  which  no  one  but  a  long  and  successful  teacher  o> 
Church  History  could  have  produced." 


STANDARD    TEXT  BOOKS. 


HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  CHURCH.  By  PHILIP  SCHAFF, 
D,D.  New  Edition,  re-written  and  enlarged.  Vol.  l,-Apos« 
tolic  Christianity,  A.D,  1-100.  Vol.  II.— Ante-Nicene  Chris0 
tianity,  A,D.  100-325.  Vol.  Ill.-Nicene  and  Post-Nicene 
Christianity,  A. D.  311-600.  Vol.  IV.-Mediaeval  Christianity, 
A,D.  590-1073.  8vo,  price  per  vol.,  $4.00. 

This  work  is  extremely  comprehensive.  All  subjects  that  properly 
belong  to  a  complete  sketch  are  treated,  including  the  history  of  Chris- 
tian art,  hymnology,  accounts  of  the  lives  and  chief  works  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church,  etc.  The  great  theological,  christological,  and 
anthropological  controversies  of  the  period  are  duly  sketched  ;  and  in 
all  the  details  of  history  the  organizing  hand  of  a  master  is  distinctly 
seen,  shaping  the  mass  of  materials  into  order  and  system. 

PROF.  GEO.  P.  FISHER,  of  Tale  College.— "T)r.  Schaff  has  thoroughly  and 
successfully  accomplished  his  task.  The  volumes  are  replete  with  evidences  of  a 
careful  ctudy  of  the  original  sources  and  of  an  extraordinary  and,  we  might  say, 
unsurpassed  acquaintance  with  the  modern  literature— German,  French,  and 
English— in  the  department  of  ecclesiastical  history.  They  are  equally  marked  by 
a  fair-minded,  conscientious  spirit,  as  well  as  by  a  lucid,  animated  mode  of 
presentation." 

PROF.  ROSWELL  D.  HITCHCOCK,  P.O.— "In  no  other  single  work  of 
Its  kind  with  which  I  am  acquainted  will  students  and  general  readers  find  so 
much  to  instruct  and  interest  them." 

DR.  JUL.  MULLER,  of  Halle.— "It  ia  the  only  history  of  the  first  six  cen- 
turies which  truly  satisfies  the  wants  of  the  present  age.  It  is  rich  in  results  of 
original  investigation." 

HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST,  IN  CHRONOLOGI- 
CAL TABLES.  A  Synchronistic  View  of  the  Events,  Charac- 
teristics, and  Culture  of  each  period,  including  the  History  of 
Polity,  Worship,  Literature,  and  Doctrines,  together  with  two 
Supplementary  Tables  upon  the  Church  in  America;  and  an 
Appendix,  containing  the  series  of  Councils,  Popes,  Patri- 
archs, and  olher  Bishops,  and  a  full  Index.  By  the  late 
HENRY  B.  SMITH,  D.D.,  Professor  in  the  Union  Theologi- 
cal Seminary  of  the  City  of  New  York.  Revised  Edition. 
Folio,  $5,00. 

REV.  DR.  W.  G.  T.  SHEDD.— "Prof.  Smith's  Historical  Tables  are  ...l.  best 
that  I  know  of  in  any  language.  In  preparing  such  a  work,  with  so  much  care  and 
research,  Prof.  Smith  has  furnished  to  the  student  an  apparatus  that  will  be  of 
lile-long  service  to  him" 

REV.  DR.  WILLIAM  ADAMS— "The  labor  expended  upon  such  a  work  ia 
immense,  and  its  accuracr  and  completeness  do  honor  to  the  research  aud 
siiip  of  its  author;  anJ  are  an  ju  valuable  acquisition  to  our  literature." 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS' 


LECTURES  ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  JEWISH  CHURCH.  By 
ARTHUR  PENRHYN  STANLEY,  D.D.  With  Maps  and  Plans. 
New  Edition  from  New  Plates,  with  the  author's  latest  revis* 
ion.  Part  I.— From  Abraham  to  Samuel.  Part  II.— From 
Samuel  to  the  Captivity.  Part  III.— From  the  Captivity  to 
the  Christian  Era.  Three  vols,,  12mo  (sold  separately),  each 
$2.00. 

The  same— Westminster  Edition.  Three  vols.,  8vo  («old  in  sets 
only),  per  set,  $9.00. 

LECTURES  ON  THE   HISTORY  OF  THE  EASTERN  CHURCH 

With  an  introduction  on  the  Study  of  Ecclesiastical  History 
By  ARTHUR  PENRHYN  STANLEY,  D.D.  New  Edition  from 
New  Plates.  12mo,  $2.00. 

LECTURES  ON  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHURCH  OF  SCOT* 
LAND.  By  ARTHUR  PENRHYN  STANLEY,  D.D.  8vo,  $1,50, 

In  all  that  concerns  the  external  characteristics  of  the  scenes  and 
persons  described,  Dr.  Stanley  is  entirely  at  home.  His  books  are  not 
dry  records  of  historic  events,  but  animated  pictures  of  historic  scenes 
and  of  the  actors  in  them,  while  the  human  motives  and  aspects  of 
events  are  brought  out  in  bold  and  full  relief. 

THE  LONDON  CRITIC.— "Earnest,  eloquent,  learned,  with  a  style  that  Is 
never  monotonous,  but  luring  through  its  eloquence,  the  lectures  will  maintain 
his  fame  as  author,  scholar,  and  divine.  We  could  point  out  many  passages  that 
glow  with  a  true  poetic  fire,  but  there  are  hundreds  pictorially  rich  and  poetically 
true.  The  reader  experiences  no  weariness,  for  in  every  page  and  paragraph 
there  is  something  to  engage  the  mind  and  refresh  the  soul." 

THE  NEW  ENGLANDER.— "We  have  first  to  express  our  admiration  of  the 
grace  and  graphic  beauty  of  his  style.  The  felicitous  discrimination  in  the  uze 
of  language  which  appears  on  every  page  is  especially  required  on  these  topics, 
where  the  author's  position  might  so  easily  be  mistaken  through  an  unguarded 
statement.  Dr.  Stanley  is  possessed  of  the  prime  quality  of  an  historical  student 
and  writer— namely,  the  historical  feeling,  or  sense,  by  which  conditions  of  life 
and  types  of  character,  remote  from  our  present  experience,  are  vividly  con- 
ceived of  and  truly  appreciated." 

THE  N.  Y.  TIMES.— "The  Old  Testament  History  is  here  presented  as  it 
never  was  presented  before  ;  with  so  much  clearness,  elegance  of  style,  and  his- 
toric and  literary  illustration,  not  to  speak  of  learning  and  calmness  of  judgment, 
that  not  theologians  alone,  but  also  cultivated  readers  generally,  are  drawn  to  its 
pases.  In  point  of  style  it  takes  rank  with  Macaulay's  History  and  the  beat 
chapters  of  Froude." 


CHRISTIAN    EVIDENCES    AND 

HOMILETICS. 


MANUAL  OF  CHRISTIAN  EVIDENCES.  By  Prof.  GEORGE 
PARK  FISHER,  D.D,,  LL.D,,  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical 
History  in  Yale  College.  16mo,  75  cents. 

The  aim  of  the  book  is  to  present  the  Evidences  of  Christianity  in 
a  concise,  lucid  form,  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  have  not  the  leisure 
to  study  extended  treatises  on  the  subject.  It  is  intended  both  for 
private  reading  and  for  the  use  of  classes  in  public  institutions.  Al- 
though brief,  it  includes  a  distinct  statement  of  both  the  internal  and 
external  proofs.  The  arguments  are  shaped  to  meet  objections  and 
difficulties  which  are  felt  at  the  present  time,  and  the  historic  evidence 
is  carefully  confined  to  the  present  state  of  scholarship  and  learning. 

THE  EXAMINER.— "It  is  worth  its  weight  in  gold.  It  is  by  all  odds  the  best 
treatise  on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity  for  general  use  that  we  know.  It  i3 
sound,  judicious,  clear,  and  scholarly." 

THE  N.  Y.  SUN.— "Compact,  thorough,  and  learned,  its  simplicity  of  stylo 
and  brevity  ought  to  commend  it  to  a  wide  circle  of  readers." 

THE  GROUNDS  OF  THEISTIC  AND  CHRISTIAN  BELIEF.  By 
Prof.  GEORGE  P.  FISHER,  D.D.,  LL.D.  Crown  8vo,  $2.50. 

FROM  THE  PREFACE. — "  This  volume  embraces  a  discussion  of  the  evidences 
of  both  natural  and  revealed  religion.  Prominence  is  given  to  topics  having 
special  interest  at  present  from  their  connection  with  modern  theories  and  ditll- 
culties.  The  argument  of  design,  and  the  bearing  of  evolutionary  doctrines  on 
its  validity,  are  fully  considered." 

JULIUS  H.  SEELYE,  PresiOent  of  Am/ierst  College.— "I  find  it  as  I  should 
expect  it  to  be,  wise  and  candid,  and  convincing  to  an  honest  mind." 

PROF.  JAMES  O.  MURRAY,  of  Princeton  College.—"  It  is  eminently  fitted  to 
meet  the  honest  doubts  of  some  of  our  best  young  men.  Ita  fairness  and  candor, 
its  learning  and  ability  in  argument,  its  thorough  handling  of  modern  objections 
—all  these  qualities  fit  it  for  such  a  service,  and  a  great  service  it  is." 

ESSAYS  ON  THE  SUPERNATURAL  ORIGIN  OF  CHRISTIAN- 
ITY. By  Prof.  GEORGE  P.  FISHER,  D.D.,  LL.D.  8vo, 
new  and  enlarged  edition,  $2,50. 

THE  NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE.— "His  volume  evinces  rare  versatility  of  intellect, 
with  a  scholarship  no  less  sound  and  judicious  in  Its  tone  and  extensive  in  its 
attainments  than  it  is  modest  in  its  pretensions." 

THE  BRITISH  QUARTERLY  REVIEW.— ""We  know  not  where  the  student  will 
find  a  more  satisfactory  guide  in  relation  to  the  great  questions  which  have-  grown 
up  between  the  friends  of  the  Christian  revelation  and  the  most  able  of  its  assail 
ants,  within  the  memory  of  the  present  generation." 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS" 


fHE  PHILOSOPHIC  BASIS  OF  THEISM.  An  Examination  of  the 
Personality  of  Man,  to  Ascertain  his  Capacity  to  Know  and 
Serve  God,  and  the  Validity  of  the  Principle  Underlying  the 
Defense  of  Theism.  By  SAMUEL  HARRIS,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Pro- 
fessor of  Systematic  Theology  in  Yale  College.  8vo,  $3.50= 

Dr.  Harris  embodies  in  his  work  the  results  of  his  long  meditation 
ou  the  highest  themes,  and  his  long  discussion  and  presentation  of 
these  truths  in  the  class-room.  His  fundamental  positions  are  thor- 
oughly in  harmony  with  soundest  modern  thought  and  most  trust- 
worthy modern  knowledge. 

THE  INDEPENDENT.— "It  is  rare  that  a  work,  which  is  of  necessity,  so 
severely  metaphysical  in  both  topics  and  treatment,  is  so  enlivened  by  the 
varied  contributions  of  a  widely  cultivated  mind  from  a  liberal  course  of 
reading.  His  passionate  and  candid  argument  cannot  fail  to  command  the 
respect  of  any  antagonist  of  the  Atheistic  or  Agnostic  schools,  who  will  take 
the  pains  to  read  his  criticisms  or  to  review  his  argument.  In  respect  to  coolness 
and  dignity  and  self-possession,  his  work  is  an  excellent  model  for  scientists, 
metaphysicians,  and  theologians  of  every  complexion." 

THE  HARTFORD  COURANT.—" Professor  Harris'  horizon-lines  are  uucon- 
tracted.  His  survey  of  the  entire  realm  he  traverses  is  accurate,  patient,  and 
considerate.  No  objections  are  evaded.  No  conclusions  are  reached  by  saltatory 
movements.  The  utmost  fairness  and  candor  characterize  his  discussions.  No 
more  thoroughly  scientific  work  in  plan  or  method  or  spirit  has  been  done  in  our 
time.  On  almost  every  page  one  meets  with  evidences  of  a  wide  and  reflec- 
tive reading,  not  only  of  philosophy,  but  of  poetry  and  fiction  as  well,  whicn 
•nriches  and  illumines  the  whole  course  of  thought." 

THE  SELF-REVELATION  OF  GOD.  By  SAMUEL  HARRIS, 
D.D,,  LL.D,,  Professor  of  Systematic  Theology  in  Yale  Col- 
lege. 8vo,  $3.50. 

In  this  volume  Dr  Harris  presents  a  statement  of  the  evidence  of 
ihe  existence  of  God,  and  of  the  reality  of  His  revelation  of  Himself 
in  the  experience  or  consciousness  of  men,  and  the  verification  of  the 
same  by  His  further  revelation  of  Himself  in  the  constitution  and 
ongoing  of  the  universe,  and  in  Christ. 

PROF.  WM.  G.  T.  SHEDD,  D.D.,  in  The  Presbyterian  Review.— "  Such  a 
work  is  not  brought  out  in  a  day,  but  is  the  growth  of  years  of  professional  study 
and  reflection.  Few  books  on  apologetics  have  been  recently  produced  that  will 
be  more  influential  and  formative  upon  the  mind  of  the  theological  or  philosophi- 
cal student,  or  more  useful.  It  is  calculated  to  influence  opinions,  and  to  Influence 
them  truthfully,  seriously,  and  strongly." 

BISHOP  HURST,  in  The  Northwestern  Christian  Advocate.— "We  do  not  know 
a  better  work  among  recent  publications  than  this  one  for  building  up  old  hopes 
and  giving  a  new  strength  to  one's  faith.  The  book  is  thoroughly  evangelic, 
fresh,  and  well  wrought  out.  It  is  a  valuable  contribution  to  our  America^ 
theology." 


STANDAED    TEXT  BOOKS. 


THE  THEORY  OF  PREACHING,-  or,  Lectures  on  Homiletics, 
By  Professor  AUSTIN  PHELPS.  8vo,  $2.50. 

This  work  is  the  growth  of  more  than  thirty  years'  practical  ex- 
perience in  teaching.  The  writings  of  a  master  of  style,  of  broad  and 
catholic  mind  are  always  fascinating  ;  in  the  present  case  the  wealth 
jf  appropriate  and  pointed  illustration  renders  this  doubly  the  case- 

THE  NEW  YORK  CHRISTIAN  ADVOCATE.— "  Ministers  of  all  denominati 3na 
and  of  all  degrees  of  experience  will  rejoice  in  it  as  a  veritable  mine  of  wisdom." 

THE  INDEPENDENT.—"  The  volume  is  to  be  commended  to  young  men  as  a 
superb  example  of  the  art  in  which  it  aims  to  instruct  them." 

THE  WATCHMAN.— "  The  reading  of  it  is  a  mental  tonic.  The  preacher 
cannot  but  feel  often  his  heart  burning  within  him  under  its  influence.  We  could 
wish  it  might  be  in  the  hands  of  every  theological  student  and  of  every  pastor." 

MEN  AND  BOOKS;  OR,  STUDIES  IN  HOMILETICS.  Lectures 
Introductory  to  the  "Theory  of  Preaching."  By  Professor 
AUSTIN  PHELPS,  D,D.  Crown  8vo,  $2.00. 

Professor  Phelps'  second  volume  of  lectures  is  devoted  to  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  sources  of  culture  and  power  in  the  profession  of  the 
pulpit,  its  power  to  absorb  and  appropriate  to  its  own  uses  the  world 
of  real  life  in  the  present,  and  the  world  of  the  past,  as  it  lives  in 
books. 

PROFESSOR  GEORGE  P.  FISHER.— "It  Is  a  live  book,  animated  as  well  as 
sound  and  instructive,  in  which  conventionalities  are  brushed  aside,  and  the 
author  goes  straight  to  the  marrow  of  the  subject.  No  minister  can  read  it 
without  being  waked  up  to  a  higher  conception  of  the  possibilities  of  his  calling." 

BOSTON  WATCHMAN. — "  We  are  sure  that  no  minister  or  candidate  for  the 
ministry  can  read  it  without  profit.  It  is  a  tonic  for  one's  mind  to  read  a  book  so 
laden  with  thought  and  suggestion,  and  written  in  a  style  sc  fresh,  strong,  and 
bracing." 

A  TREATISE  ON  HOMILETICS  AND  PASTORAL  THEOLOGY, 
By  W.  G.  T.  SHEDD,  D.D.  Crown  8vo,  $2.50, 

In  this  work,  treating  of  the  main  points  of  Homiletics  and  Pastoral 
Theology,  the  author  handles  his  subject  in  a  masterly  manner,  anc| 
displays  much  original  and  highly  suggestive  thought.  The  Homileti 
cal  part  is  especially  valuable  to  ministers  aud  those  in  training  for  thf 
ministry.  Dr.  Shedd's  style  is  a  model  of  purity,  simplicity  and 
strength. 

THE  NEW  YORK  EVANGELIST.—"  We  cannot  but  regard  it  as,  on  the  whole 
the  very  best  production  of  the  kind  with  which  we  are  acquainted.    The  topia 
discussed  are  of  the  first  importance  to  every  minister  of  Christ  engaged  in  activ 
service,  and  their  discussion  is  conducted  by  earnestness  as  well  as  ability,  and  i  ,• 
it  style  which  for  clear,  vigorous,  and  unexceptionable  English,  is  itself  a  model." 

THE  CHRISTIAN  INTELLIGENCER.— "  The  ablest  book  on  the  subjeet  whicJa 
the  generation  has  produced." 


BIBLICAL   STUDY. 


BIBLICAL  STUDY.  Its  Principles,  Methods,  and  History.  By 
CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS,  D.D.,  Professor  of  Hebrew  and 
Cognate  Languages  in  Union  Theological  Seminary.  Crown 
8vo,  $2.50. 

The  author  has  aimed  to  present  a  guide  to  Biblical  Study  for  the 
intelligent  layman  as  well  as  the  theological  student  and  minister  of 
the  Gospel.  At  the  same  time  a  sketch  of  the  entire  history  of  each 
department  of  Biblical  Study  has  been  given,  the  stages  of  its  develop- 
ment are  traced,  the  normal  is  discriminated  from  the  abnormal,  and 
the  whole  is  rooted  in  the  methods  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles. 

THE  BOSTON  ADVERTISER.— " The  principles,  methods,  and  history  of 
Biblical  study  are  very  fully  considered,  and  it  is  one  of  the  best  works  of  its  kind 
In  the  language,  if  not  the  only  book  wherein  the  modern  methods  of  the  study 
of  the  Bible  are  entered  into,  apart  from  direct  theological  teaching." 

THE  LONDON  SPECTATOR.— "Dr.  Briggs'  bookis  one  of  much  value,  not  the 
less  to  be  esteemed  because  of  the  moderate  compass  into  which  its  mass  of  in- 
formation has  been  compressed." 

MESSIANIC  PROPHECY.  The  Prediction  of  the  Fulfilment  of 
Redemption  through  the  Messiah.  A  Critical  Study  of  the 
Messianic  Passages  of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  Order  of 
their  Development.  By  CHARLES  A.  BRIGGS,  D.D,,  Pro- 
fessor of  Hebrew  and  the  Cognate  Languages  in  the  Union 
Theological  Seminary.  Crown  8vo,  $2.50, 

In  this  work  the  author  develops  and  traces  "the  prediction  of 
fche  fulfilment  of  redemption  through  the  Messiah  "  through  the  whole 
series  of  Messianic  passages  and  prophecies  in  the  Old  Testament. 
Beginning  with  the  first  vague  intimations  of  the  great  central  thought 
of  redemption  he  arrays  one  prophecy  after  another  ;  indicating  clearly 
the  general  condition,  mental  and  spiritual,  out  of  which  each  prophecy 
arises  ;  noting  the  gradual  widening,  deepening,  and  clarification  of 
the  prophecy  as  it  is  developed  from  one  prophet  to  another  to  the 
end  of  the  Old  Testament  canon. 

THE  LONDON  ACADEMY.— "His  new  book  on  Messianic  Prophecy  is  a 
worthy  companion  to  his  indispensable  text-book  on  Biblical  study.  He  has  pro- 
duced the  first  English  text-book  on  the  subject  of  Messianic  Prophecy  which  a 
modern  teacher  can  use." 

THE  EVANGELIST.— "Messianic  Prophecy  is  a  subject  of  no  common  inter- 
est, and  this  book  is  no  ordinary  book.  It  is,  on  the  contrary,  a  work  of  the  very 
first  order ;  the  ripe  product  of  years  of  study  upon  the  highest  themes.  It  te 
exegesis  in  a  master-hand.'' 


CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS' 


THE  DOCTRINE  OF  SACRED  SCRIPTURE,  A  Criticals  Hij 
torical,  and  Dogmatic  Inquiry  into  the  Origin  and  Natim 
of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments.  By  GEORGE  T,  LADD 
D,D,,  Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy  in  Yak 
College.  2  vols.,  8vo,  $7,00, 

J.  HENRY  THAYER,  D.D.— "It  is  the  most  elaborate,  erudite,  judicious  dis- 
cussion of  the  doctrine  of  Scripture,  in  its  various  aspects,  with  which  I  air 
acquainted.  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that,  for  enabling  a  young  minister 
to  present  views  alike  wise  and  reverent  respecting  the  nature  and  use  of 
Sacred  Scripture,  nay,  for  giving  him  in  general  a  Biblical  outlook  upon  Chris 
tian  theology,  both  in  its  theoretical  and  its  practical  relations,  the  faithful  study 
of  this  thorough,  candid,  scholarly  work  will  be  worth  to  him  as  much  as  half 
the  studies  of  his  seminary  course." 

GEORGE  P.  FISHER,  D.D.,  LL. D.— "  Professor  Ladd's  work  is  from  the  pen  ol 
an  able  and  trained  scholar,  candid  in  spirit  and  thorough  in  his  researches.  It 
is  so  comprehensive  in  its  plan,  so  complete  in  the  presentation  of  facts,  and  so 
closely  related  to  '  the  burning  questions '  of  the  day,  that  it  cannot  fail  to  enlist 
the  attention  of  all  earnest  students  of  theology." 

WORD  STUDIES  IN  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT.  By  MARVIN  R. 
VINCENT,  D.D.  Vol.  1,-The  Synoptic  Gospels,  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  and  the  Epistles  of  Peter,  James  and  Jude.  Vol. 
II.— The  Writings  of  John— The  Gospel,  the  Epistles,  the 
Apocalypse.  8vo,  per  vol.,  $4.00.  Vol.  III.  ready. 

The  purpose  of  the  author  is  to  enable  the  English  reader  and 
student  to  get  at  the  original  force,  meaning,  and  color  of  the  signifi- 
cant words  and  phrases  as  used  by  the  different  writers.  An  introduc- 
tion to  the  comments  upon  each  book  sets  forth  in  compact  form  what 
is  known  about  the  author — how,  where,  with  what  object,  and 
with  what  peculiarities  of  style  he  wrote.  Dr.  Vincent  has  gathered 
from  all  sources  and  put  in  an  easily  comprehended  form  a  great  quan- 
tity of  information  of  much  value  to  the  critical  expert  as  well  as  to 
the  studious  layman  who  wishes  to  get  at  the  real  spirit  of  the  Greek 
text. 

REV.  DR.  HOWARD  CROSBY.— "  Dr.  Vincent's  'Word  Studies  in  the  New 
Testament '  is  a  delicious  book.  As  a  Greek  scholar,  a  clear  thinker,  a  logical 
reasoner,  a  master  in  English,  and  a  devout  sympathizer  with  tbe  truths  of  reve- 
lation, Dr.  Vincent  is  just  the  man  to  interest  and  edify  the  Church  with  such  a 
work  as  this.  There  are  few  scholars  who,  to  such  a  degree  as  Dr.  Vincent, 
mingle  scholarly  attainment  with  aptness  to  impart  knowledge  in  attractive  form. 
All  Bible-readers  should  enjoy  and  profit  by  these  delightful '  Word  Studies.' ' 

DR.  THEO.  L.  CUYLER,  in  Tlie  N.  Y.  Evangelist.— "The  very  things  which 
a  young  minister— and  many  an  older  one  also— ought  to  know  about  the  chief 
words  in  his  New  Testament  he  will  be  able  to  learn  in  this  affluent  volume. 
Years  of  close  study  by  one  of  our  brightest  Greek  scholars,  have  been  condensed 
into  Its  pages." 


MENTAL  AND  MORAL  SCIENCE. 


AN  OUTLINE  STUDY  OF  MAN;  or,  the  Body  and  Mind  in  One 
System.  With  illustrative  diagrams.  Revised  edition.  By 
MARK  HOPKINS,  D,D,,  LL.D.,  late  President  of  Williams 
College,  12mo,  $1.75. 

This  is  a  model  of  the  developing  method  as  applied  to  intellectual 
science.  The  work  is  on  an  entirely  new  plan.  It  presents  man  in 
his  unity,  and  his  several  faculties  and  their  relations  are  so  presented 
to  the  eye  in  illustrative  diagrams  as  to  be  readily  apprehended. 
The  work  has  come  into  very  general  use  in  this  country  as  a  man 
ual  for  instruction,  and  the  demand  for  it  is  increasing  every  year. 


GENERAL  S.  C.  ARMSTRONG,  Principal  of  Hampton  Institute.—  "I 
glad  of  the  opportunity  to  express  my  high  appreciation  of  Dr.  Hopkins'  Outline 
Study  of  Man.  It  has  done  more  for  me  personally  than  any  hook  besides  the 
Bible.  More  than  any  other  it  teaches  the  greatest  of  lessons,  know  thyself.  For 
over  ten  years,  I  have  made  it  a  text  book  in  the  Senior  Class  of  this  school.  It 
is,  I  think,  the  greatest  and  most  useful  of  the  books  of  the  greatest  of  our  Am- 
erican educators,  Kev.  Dr.  Hopkins,  and  is  destined  to  do  a  great  work  in  forming 
not  only  the  ideas  but  the  character  of  youth  in  America  and  in  other  parts  of  the 
world." 

PROF.  ADDI3ON  BALLARD,  of  Lafayette  College.—  "I  have  for  years  usetf 
Dr.  Hopkins'  Outline  Study  of  Man,  in  connection  with  his  Laiv  of  Love,  as  a  text 
book  for  our  Senior  Classes.  I  have  done  this  with  unfailing  success  and  witli 
increasing  satisfaction.  It  is  of  incalculable  advantage  to  the  student  to  come 
under  the  influence,  through  his  books,  of  this  great  master  of  thought  and  of  style. 
[  cannot  speak  of  Outline  Study  in  terms  of  too  hearty  commendation." 

THE  LAW  OF  LOVE,  AND  LOVE  AS  A  LAW;  or,  Christian 
Ethics.  By  MARK  HOPKINS,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  late  President 
of  Williams  College.  12mo,  S1.75. 

This  work  is  designed  to  follow  the  author's  Outline  Study  of  Man. 
As  its  title  indicates  it  is  entirely  an  exposition  of  the  cardinal  precept 
of  Christian  philosophy  in  harmony  with  nature  and  on  the  basis  of 
reason.  Like  the  treatise  on  mental  philosophy  it  is  adapted  with 
anusual  skill  to  educational  uses. 

It  appears  in  a  new  edition  which  has  been  in  part  re-written  in 
order  to  bring  it  into  closer  relation  to  his  Outline  Study  of  Man,  of 
which  work  it  is  really  a  continuation.  More  prominence  has  been 
given  to  the  idea  of  Rights,  but  the  fundamental  doctrines  of  tb> 
treatise  have  not  been  changed. 


CHARLES  SCRIBNERS  SONS' 


PSYCHOLOGY,  By  JAMES  McCOSH,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  ex-President 
of  Princeton  College,  I,—  The  Cognitive  Powers.  II.—  The 
Motive  Powers.  2  vols,,  12mo,  Sold  separately.  Each, 
$1,50. 

The  first  volume  contains  an  analysis  of  the  operations  of  the  senses, 
and  of  their  relation  to  the  intellectual  processes,  with  a  discussior 
of  sense  perception,  from  the  physiological  side,  accompanied  by 
appropriate  cuts.  The  second  volume  treats  of  the  Motive  Powers,  as 
they  are  called,  the  Orective,  the  Appetent,  the  Impulsive  Powers  ; 
including  the  Conscience,  Emotions,  and  Will. 

PROF.  WILLIAM  DE  W.  HYDE,  of  BowOoin  College.—  "  The  book  is  written 
in  a  clear  and  simple  style  ;  it  breathes  a  sweet  and  winning  spirit  ;  and  it  is 
inspired  by  a  noble  purpose.  In  these  respects  it  is  a  model  of  what  a  text 
book  should  be." 

S.  L.  CALDWELL,  late  President  of  Vassar  College.—  "  It  is  what  was  to  have 
been  expected  from  the  ability  and  long  experience  of  the  author.  The  style  is 
clear  and  simple  ;  the  matter  is  well  distributed  :  it  well  covers  the  ground 
usually  taught  in  such  text  books,  and  I  am  sure  any  teacher  would  find  it  a 
helpful  guide  in  his  classes." 

FIRST  AND  FUNDAMENTAL  TRUTHS.  Being  a  Treatise  or 
Metaphysics.  By  JAMES  McCOSH,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  ex-Presi- 
dent of  Princeton  College.  12mo,  $2.00. 

EXTRACT  FROM  THE  PREFACE.—  "  Every  thinking  mind  has  occasion  a 
times  to  refer  to  first  principles.  In  this  work  I  have  set  myself  earnestly  to  in- 
quire what  these  are  ;  to  determine  their  nature,  and  to  classify  and  arrange 
them  into  a  science.  In  pursuing  this  end  I  have  reached  a  Realistic  Philosophy, 
opposed  alike  to  the  Sceptical  Philosophy,  which  has  proceeded  from  Hume,  in 
England,  and  the  Idealistic  Philosophy,  which  has  ramified  from  Kant,  in  Ger- 
many ;  while  I  have  also  departed  from  the  Scottish  and  higher  French  Schools, 
as  I  hold  resolutely  that  the  mind,  in  its  intelligent  acts,  begins  with,  and  pro 
ceeds  throughout  on  a  cognition  of  things." 

BOSTON  TRAVELLER.—  "The  deep  truth  so  ably  presented  by  this  gran-l 
metaphysician  in  this  study  of  principles,  and  the  satisfaction  to  be  found  in  his 
system  of  realistic  philosophy  renders  the  work  one  of  those  valuable  contributions 
to  intellectual  progress,  whose  advent  is  an  important  event  in  the  progress  ol 
the  human  race." 


ELEMENTS      OF       PHYSIOLOGICAL       PSYCHOLOGY. 

GEORGE  T.  LADD,  D.D.,  Professor  of  Mental  and  Moral 
Philosophy  in  Yale  University.  With  numerous  illustrations, 
8vo,  $4.50. 

PROF.  WILLIAM  JAMES,  in  The  Nation.—  "  His  erudition  and  his  broad- 
mindedness  are  on  a  par  with  each  other  ;  and  his  volume  will  probably  for  many 
years  to  come  be  the  standard  work  of  reference  on  the  subject." 

THE  SCHOOL  JOURNAL.—  "It  is  impossible  in  a  brief  notice  to  give  any 
adequate  conception  of  the  scientific  character  and  practical  application  of  this 
admirable  volume.  In  its  class  it  stands  alone  among  American  books.  No 
thorough  student  of  psychology  will  rest  satisfied  until  he  owns  a  copy  of  thi* 
work." 


STANDARD    TEXT  BOOKS. 


FINAL  CAUSES.  By  PAUL  JANET,  Member  of  the  French 
Academy.  With  a  Preface  by  Robert  Flint,  D.D.,  LL.D, 
From  second  French  edition.  8vo,  S2.50. 

PROF.  FRANCIS  L.  PATTON,  of  Princeton  Theological  Seminary. —  'I  re* 
gard  Janet's  '  Final  Causes '  as  incomparably  the  best  thing  in  literature  on  the 
subject  of  which  it  treats,  and  that  it  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every  man  who 
has  any  interest  in  the  present  phases  of  the  theistic  problem.  I  have  recom- 
mended it;  to  my  classes  in  the  seminary,  and  make  constant  use  of  it  in  n:y  in 
Btructions." 

NOAH  PORTER,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  late  President  of  Tale  College.-  •"  I  am  delighted 
that  you  have  published  Janet's  '  Final  Causes '  in  an  improved  form  and  at  a 
price  which  brings  it  within  the  reach  of  many  who  desire  to  possess  it.  It  is.  ia 
my  opinion,  the  most  suggestive  treatise  on  this  important  topic  which  is  access- 
ible in  our  language." 

THE    HUMAN    INTELLECT.    By  NOAH  PORTER,  D.D..  LL.D., 

late  President  of  Yale  College.    With  an  Introduction  upon 
Psychology  and  the  Human  Soul.    8vo,  $5.00. 

The  author  has  not  only  designed  tc  furnish  a  text  book  which  shall 
be  sufficiently  comprehensive  and  scientific  to  satisfy  the  wants  of  the 
many  students  of  psychology  and  speculative  philosophy  who  are  found 
In  our  higher  institutions  of  learning,  but  also  to  prepare  a  volume 
which  may  guide  the  advanced  student  to  a  clear  understanding  and  a 
just  estimate  of  the  questions  which  have  perpetually  appeared  and 
reappeared  in  the  history  of  philosophy. 

THE  BRITISH  QUARTERLY  REVIEW.— "President  Porter's  work,  toe  result 
of  thirty  years'  professional  labor,  is  not  only  the  most  important  philosophical 
work  that  has  appeared  in  our  language  since  Sir  William  Hamilton's,  but  its 
Jorm  as  a  manual  makes  it  invaluable  to  students." 

THE  PRINCETON  REVIEW.— "After  a  careful  examination  of  this  truly  great 
work,  we  are  ready  to  pronounce  it  the  most  complete  and  exhaustive  exhibition 
of  the  cognitive  faculties  of  the  human  soul  to  be  found  in  our  language,  and,  so 
far  as  we  know,  in  any  language.  The  work  is  a  monument  of  the  author's  in- 
sight; industry,  learning,  and  judgment ;  one  of  tie  great  productions  of  our 
time ;  an  honor  to  our  country,  and  a  fresh  proof  that  genuine  philosophy  has  not 
died  out  among  us." 

ELEMENTS  OF  INTELLECTUAL  SCIENCE.  A  Manual  Tor 
Schools  and  Colleges.  By  NOAH  PORTER,  D.D,,  LL.D., 

late  President  of  Yale  College.    8vo,  $3.00. 

This  is  an  abridgment  of  the  author's  "  Human  Intellect,"  contain- 
ing all  the  matter  necessary  for  use  in  the  class-room,  and  has  been  in- 
troduced as  a  text-book  in  Yale,  Dartmouth,  Bowdoin,  Oberlin,  Bates, 
Hamilton,  Vassar,  and  Smith  Colleges  ;  Wesleyan,  Ohio,  Lehigh.  and 
Wooster  Universities,  and  many  other  colleges,  academies,  normal  and 
high  schools. 

THE  NEW  YORK  WORLD.— "The  abridgment  is  very  well  done,  the  state 
loents  being  terse  and  perspicuous." 

THE  NEW  YORK  TRIBUNE.— " Presents  the  leading  facts  of  intellectual 
Kdence  from  the  author's  point  of  view,  with  clearness  and  vigor." 


CHARLES   SCRIBNEKS  SONS' 


ELEMENTS  OF  MORAL  SCIENCE,  Theoretical  and  Practical, 
By  NOAH  PORTER,  D.D,,  LL.D,,  late  President  of  Yale 
College,  8vo,  $3,00. 

GEORGE  S.  MORRIS,  Professor  of  Ethics,  University  of  Michigan.— "I  hav. 
read  the  work  with  great  interest,  and  parts  of  it  with  enthusiasm,  it  is  a  vast 
improvement  on  any  of  the  current  text  books  of  ethns.  It  is  tolerant  and 
catholic  in  tone ;  not  superficially,  but  soundly,  inductive  in  method  and  ten- 
dency, and  rich  in  practical  suggestion." 

JULIUS  H.  SEELYE,  President  Amherst  Collrge.—"It  is  copious  and  clear, 
with  ample  scholarship  and  remarkable  insight,  and  I  am  sure  that  all  teachers 
of  Moral  Science  will  find  it  a  valuable  aid  in  their  instructions." 

OUTLINES  OF  MORAL  SCIENCE,  By  ARCHIBALD  ALEX- 
ANDER, D.D,,  LL.D.  12mo,  $1.50. 

This  book  is  elementary  in  its  character,  and  is  marked  by  great 
clearness  and  simplicity  of  style.  It  is  intended  to  lay  the  foundations 
and  elucidate  the  principles  of  the  Philosophy  of  Morals.  It  is  widely 
used  in  colleges  and  other  institutions  of  learning,  and  is  specially 
adapted  for  students  whose  age,  or  the  time  at  whose  disposal,  does 
not  permit  the  use  of  the  more  extended  and  abstruse  works  on  ethics. 

THE  THEORY  OF  MORALS,  By  PAUL  JANET,  Member  of  the 
French  Academy.  Translated  under  the  supervision  of 
President  Noah  Porter,  8vo,  $2.50. 

Prof.  Janet  in  this  book  gives  us  not  only  a  clear  and  concise  exam- 
ination of  the  whole  study  of  moral  science,  but  he  has  introduced  into 
the  discussion  many  elements  which  have  hitherto  been  too  mnch 
neglected.  The  first  principles  of  moral  science  and  the  fundamental 
idea  of  morals  the  author  describes  with  much  precision,  and  presents 
an  interesting  and  systematic  exposition  of  them. 

SCIENCE.—"  The  book  lias  lucidity  and  is  full  of  learning.  It  is  hardly  extrav- 
agant to  say  that  so  clear  and  picturesque  a  treatise,  in  the  hands  of  an  aiert 
teacher,  might  save  the  study  of  ethics  from  its  almost  Inevitable  fate  of  being 
very  dull  " 

A  THEORY  OF  CONDUCT.  By  ARCHIBALD  ALEXANDER. 
12mo,  $1.00. 

CONTENTS  :  The  Theory  of  Right— The  Theory  of  Duty— The 
Nature  of  Character  — The  Motive  to  Morality. 

Professor  Alexander's  book  is  an  essay  in  that  department,  of 
metaphysics  in  which  of  recent  years  perhaps  the;  most  interest  has 
been  awakened.  Rarely  has  the  essence  of  so  vast  a  problem  been 
stated  in  such  snccint  form.  The  work  contains  a  very  complete  and 
searching  examination  of  the  various  ethical  tin-ones  and  systems, 
together  with  the  positive  statement  of  the  author's  »wn  doctrine, 
which  rinds  the  ethical  impulse  essentially  religious. 


HISTORY    OF    PHILOSOPHY 


HISTORY  OF   PHILOSOPHY,     By  Prof.    FRIEDRICH    UEBER 
WEG.    Translated  by  Prof,  G.  S.  Morris,  of  Michigan  Uni 
versity.    Edited  by  Noah  Porter,  D.D.,  LL.D,,  late  President 
of  Yale  College,  and  Philip  Schaff,  D.D.    Vol.   I.— Ancient 
and  Mediaeval;  Vol.  II.— Modern.    2  vols,,  8vo,  85,00. 

In  its  universal  scope,  and  its  full  and  exhaustive  literature  of  the 
Subject,  Ueberweg's  "History  of  Philosophy"  has  no  equal.  The 
characteristic  features  of  the  work  are  the  compendious  presentation 
of  doctrines,  the  survey  of  the  literature  relating  to  each  philosophical 
system,  biographical  notices,  the  discussion  of  controverted  historical 
points,  and  compressed  criticisms  of  doctrines  from  the  standpoint  of 
modern  science  and  sound  logic. 

THE  BRITISH  QUARTERLY  REVIEW.— "  The  work  is  concise  and  clear,  exact 
and  suggestive,  comprehensive  and  critical.  It  contains  a  complete  presentation 
of  the  different  philosophical  schools,  and  describes,  with  sufficient  minuteness, 
the  principal  doctrines  which  belong  to  each  system,  and  to  subordinate  branches 
of  each  system  ;  by  which  means  a  distinct  picture  is  placed  before  the  mind  of 
the  reader.  It  meets  at  once  the  minds  of  the  ordinary  student  and  of  the  in- 
dependent inquirer." 

THE  N.  Y.  EVANGELIST.— "Taking  the  whole  together,  it  furnishes  the  most 
complete  and  reliable  apparatus  for  the  study  of  philosophy  which  has  ever  been 
placed  in  the  hands  of  American  students." 

REALISTIC  PHILOSOPHY.  Defended  in  a  Philosophic  Series. 
By  JAMES  McCOSH,  D.D,,  LL.D.,  President  of  Princeton 
College.  VoL  1.— Expository;  Vol.  2.— Historical  and  Critical. 
2  vols,,  12mo,  $3.00. 

In  the  first  volume  the  principal  philosophic  questions  of  the  day 
&te  discussed,  including  the  Tests  of  Truth,  Causation  Development, 
and  the  Character  of  our  World.  In  the  second  volume  the  same  ques- 
tions are  treated  historically.  The  systems  of  the  philosophers  who 
have  discussed  them  are  stated  and  examined,  and  the  truth  and  error 
in  each  of  them  carefully  pointed  out. 

THE  N.  Y.  OBSERVER.— "Its  style  is  so  clear  and  direct,  its  presentation  of  the 
whole  subject  is  so  natural  and  forcible,  that  many  persons  who  habitually  ignore 
discussions  of  abstract  topics,  would  be  charmed  into  a  new  intellectual  interest 
by  giving  Dr.  McCosh's  work  a  careful  consideration/' 

HARPER'S  MAGAZINE.—"  These  eminently  cogent  and  instructive  volumes 
are  designed  for  exposition  and  defence  of  fundamental  truths.  The  distinct  but 
correlated  subjects  arc  treated  with  equal  simplicity  and  power,  and  cover  in 
brief  much  of  the  ground  occupied  by  larger  publications,  togethsr  with  muck  oc 
Independent  lines  of  thought  that  lie  outside  their  olan." 


CHARLES  SCRIBNEB'S  SONS 


MODERN  PHILOSOPHY.  From  Descartes  to  Schopenhauer  and 
Hartmann.  By  Prof.  FRANCIS  BOWEN,  of  Harvard  Univen 
sity.  8vo,  $3.00. 

The  purpose  of  this  book  has  been  to  furnish,  within  moderate 
compass,  a  comprehensive  and  intelligible  account  of  the  metaphysical 
Systems  of  the  great  men  who  have  been  the  leaders  of  European 
thought  on  philosophical  subjects  for  nearly  three  centuries.  Special 
treatises,  such  as  Kant's  "Critique"  and  Hartmann's  "Philosophy 
of  the  Unconscious,"  are  made  the  subjects  of  elaborate  commentary, 
and  expounded  in  all  their  leading  features,  with  great  care  and 
minuteness. 

THE  N.  Y.  EVENING  POST.— " Excellent  in  every  respect;  clear,  scholarly, 
vigoroas,  often  vivacious,  full  of  sound  learning,  acute  criticism,  genial  appreci- 
ation, and  the  best  spirit  of  philosophy." 

DESCARTES  AND  HIS  SCHOOL.  By  KUNO  FISCHER.  Trans- 
lated from  the  Third  and  Revised  German  Edition,  by  J.  P, 
Gordy,  Ph.D.,  Professor  of  Pedagogics  in  Ohio  University. 
Edited  by  Noah  Porter,  D.D,,  LL.D.  8vo,  $3.50. 

Kuno    Fischer  has  the  rare   art  of  combining  French  lucidity  of 
exposition  with  German  thoroughness  and  profundity. 

His  volume  on  Descartes  is  divided  into  four  parts  :  a  general  in- 
troduction ;  the  biography  of  Descartes  ;  an  exposition  and  criticism  of 
his  system  ;  and  an  account  of  its  development  and  modification  by 
the  occasionalists. 

PROF.  GEORGE  T.  LADD.— "As  done  into  good  and  clear  English  by  Dr. 
Gordy,  it  has  a  combination  of  excellent  qualities  that  can  be  found  in  no  other 
similar  work.  It  is  at  the  same  time  exhaustive  and  not  tedious,  popular  in  the 
best  sense  «f  the  word,  and  yet  accurate  and  scholarly — a  thoroughly  readable, 
trustworthy,  and  improving  history  of  modern  speculative  thought." 

GERMAN  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  TO-DAY.  The  Empirical  School, 
by  Th.  RIBOT,  Director  of  the  Revue  Philosophique.  Trans- 
lated from  the  Second  French  Edition,  by  Jas.  M.  Baldwin, 
B.A.,  Fellow  Princeton  College.  With  a  Preface  by  James 
McCosh,  DD.,  LL.D.  Crown  8vo,  $2,00. 

The  object  of  this  book  is  to  give  an  account  of  the  valuable  re- 
searches made  in  the  field  of  psycho-physical  inquiry  by  German  in- 
vestigators, beginning  with  Herbart  and  his  school,  and  continuing 
with  the  researches  of  Lotze,  Miiller,  Weber,  Helmholtz,  Wuudt, 
Fechner,  and  minor  scientists. 

THE  N.  Y.  SUN.— "A  work  likely  to  be  madea  text  book  in  American  Unt 
Versities,  this  version  offers  for  the  first  time  to  English  readers  a  conspectus  of 
contemporary  German  speculation  on  the  relations  of  the  mind  to  the  brain.  In 
this  volume  will  be  found  discussed  with  admirable  classification  the  discoveries, 
Uieorics,  and  tendencies  of  sueU  men  as  Ilerbart,  Lotze,  Feclmer,  etc." 


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